50 years ago in Expo history: Handbell ringers wowed with their angelic sounds, even as the heat put a damper on the outdoor concert

About 200 members of the American Guild of English Handbell Ringers filled Expo ’74 with silvery sounds as they celebrated the bell-ringing Festival Day.

“We feel we are uniting people through a lost art,” the guild’s president said.

The only unpleasant note – the weather had turned hot, and some spectators had to seek shade before the outdoor bell concert was finished.

Throughout the fairgrounds, 21 fairgoers were treated for “fainting and heat-related issues.”

From 100 years ago: The Spokane Daily Chronicle ran an alarming headline: “Lions Prowl From Jungles Into Spokane.”

Turns out, they were talking about members of the Lions’ Club, who were holding their convention at the Davenport Hotel.

Yet this was still quite a raucous invasion. The Chronicle reported that the Davenport was filled “with the resounding woofs and roars of the Lions from the menageries of the Northwest.”

A life-size mechanical lion was installed in front of the Davenport, and the Lions engaged in a number of hijinks with the ersatz lion.

Also on this day

(From onthisday.com)

1867: President Andrew Johnson announces the Alaska Purchase.

1966: British pilot Sheila Scott completes first round-the-world solo flight by a woman.

1967: Mohammed Ali sentenced to five years for refusing to be inducted into the armed forces during the Vietnam War.

1968: Jim Hines becomes first person to run 100 meters in less than 10 seconds.