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 Come one

Come all

Come one and all

To Expo 67 in Montreal

 

1967 was the year of Canada's 100th birthday and of all the events and celebrations that were to take place during that euphoric year of Canadian nationalism, the world's fair in Canada's largest city, Montreal, was to be the most spectacular. It opened on April 27th, 1967 and was located two large islands on the St Lawrence River in the heart of Montreal. By the time the fair came to an end, over 50 million visitors had experienced the amazing presentation of technology, culture and a  view of the future.

After the Soviet Union had won the rights to hold the fair, the Russians backed out of their commitment in 1961, due to financial constraints, and Montreal stepped up. The Ile Ste Helene was chosen as the site a second island, the Ile Notre-Dame was created from dredging the river and building up he island.

Expo 67 was designated an exhibition of the First Category by the Bureau International des Expositions which required that it would have to ask participants to cover the entire range of human activities.

The architecture and technology were impressive and spectacular and almost all visitors were duly impressed. Some of the highlight pavilions were the gigantic U.S. geodesic dome, the inverted pyramid Canadian pavilion and the large Soviet structure. The five themes of the exhibition were

  • Man the Creator

  • man the Explorer

  • Man the Producer

  • Man the Provider

  • Man and the Community

Habitat 67 focused on new ways for housing to be conceived and built in the modern world and was an impressive success with visitors to the fair. Space exploration played a central role in the U.S. and Soviet pavilions which used this theme to promote their achievements high above the earth.

All together there were over 120 countries represented at the fair with 53 private pavilions.

When the far came to a close on October 27thm 1967 it was estimated that the revenues generated from the fair were almost double that expected and tourism in Quebec soared during that magical, mystical summer.




Source:
Reference: www.canadahistory.com/sections/eras/eras.html