50 years ago in Expo history: City finding a way to keep Gondola Ride a fixture after Expo ‘74

Negotiations were underway to make Expo ’74’s Gondola Ride a permanent city fixture. Yet there was still plenty of uncertainty about how to make that happen.

The Spokane Park Board chairman said that the city’s parks department did not have sufficient budgeted funds to buy or operate the Gondola Ride.

“There is a definite consensus that the Gondola Ride should be retained, but someone must be found to buy or lease it,” the chairman said.

The ride was owned by the local Riblet Aerial Tramway Co., and operated during Expo by the Washington Water Power Co. A Washington Water Power spokesman said “it has demonstrated its popularity by the long lines.”

In other Expo news, ballerina Margot Fonteyn headlined a performance of the New London Ballet at the Opera House. The Spokesman-Review critic wrote that it was a “rare privilege to see the greatest ballerina of our time.” Yet also noted that, at age 55, she was not exactly in her prime.

From 100 years ago: Spokane had an Old Faithful-like experience after a truck sheared off a fire hydrant at Sprague Avenue and Sherman Street, sending a fountain 30 feet into the air.

A five-block section was flooded before officials could shut off the geyser.

The truck driver escaped with no injuries, but he “suffered a thorough shower bath.”