50 years ago in Expo history: The fair manager wasn’t so amused with its amusements

Expo ’74 general manager announced a few midcourse corrections, mostly involving the fair’s amusement park area.

“We have been very concerned about the way the amusement park has developed, Petr Spurney said. “I am looking at the entire park and its operation.”

Some of the amusement rides had arrived late, but were now running. There was some concern about high prices, and Spurney vowed to look into that, as well as into its “general appearance” and “methods of attracting bigger crowds.” The amusement park was run by a concessionaire, but every aspect was under Spurney’s scrutiny.

He also said that more buildings at Expo would now be air-conditioned, after a heat wave cut into the crowd numbers recently. He vowed, too, to make general improvements to landscaping throughout the fairgrounds, especially in the Folklife Festival area and the Native American section.

Overall, Expo continued to attract larger crowds than predicted, and attendance had reached 1.4 million visitors.

From 100 years ago: A recent Army recruit escaped from the military hospital at Fort George Wright and was last seen flitting through the woods wearing only his pajamas and a pair of tennis shoes.

He had enlisted just a few days earlier and soon complained of feeling ill. He began to act strangely and was taken to a hospital room and locked in.

He apparently “burrowed a hole through the plaster and lath partition,” and made his escape.

Also on this day

(From onthisday.com)

1941: Nazi Germany and its allies invade the Soviet Union.