50 years ago in Expo history: Would President Ford show? Arguably the fair’s biggest question remained

Expo ’74 officials still held out hope that one important visitor would show up: President Gerald Ford.

Expo general manager Petr Spurney said Ford’s staff “indicated that he would still try to attend the fair before closing Nov. 3.” Or maybe on closing day itself.

Expo had already had one presidential visit, on opening day, but that was then-President Richard Nixon. Ford had been planning to come to Expo in August, but his schedule changed when he became president.

On another subject, Spurney said that the fair was in “a sound financial position” and that “all the bills will be paid and it will have been a great financial success.”

In other Expo news, the famous “mentalist” Kreskin was scheduled for a show at Expo, and the fair had concocted a publicity stunt. Officials said they had hidden an Expo medallion somewhere in the U.S. Pavilion, and Kreskin had to use his supposed psychic powers to find it. The location was supposedly top-secret, and personnel from PricewaterhouseCoopers, a high-profile accounting firm, were keeping the secret.

From 100 years ago: “Police of two nations” were working to solve the mystery behind the disappearance of Helen Brebber Stone, 7, who was believed to have been kidnapped from the vicinity of the Hawthorne School.

A telegram, purported to be from the little girl, was sent to her mother from Grand Forks, British Columbia. It read, “Arrived safely with father, (signed) Helen.”

Her mother believed that Helen had been kidnapped by her ex-husband, Dr. Brebber, who lived in Canada, or possibly an “agent” of Brebber.

She had divorced Brebber two years earlier and had been granted custody of Helen.