Held throughout the spring, summer time, and autumn of 1967, Expo 67 – or, to present it its full identify, The 1967 Worldwide And Common Exposition – was Canada’s coming-out social gathering. With the brand new Maple Leaf flag (formally adopted on February 15, 1965) and celebrating the nation’s one hundredth birthday, it gave Canadians an opportunity to indicate to the world who they had been and what they may do. However it nearly didn’t occur.
Again in 1955, the Soviet Union was awarded the chance to host the 1967 Worldwide And Common Exposition, a world’s truthful set in Moscow, and which they totally meant to be a celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of the Russian Revolution. However for varied causes – the Chilly Warfare being considered one of them – the Soviets pulled out in 1962. Montreal’s new mayor, Jean Drapeau, lobbied the federal authorities to submit one other bid to the Bureau Worldwide des Exposition, which awarded the truthful to Canada on November 13, 1962.
There wasn’t a whole lot of assist in Montreal for the concept, primarily due to Drapeau’s most popular website: new islands constructed within the Saint Lawrence River, together with utilizing Saint Helen’s Island. However by means of intense political will (and regardless of a pc program that predicted the positioning wouldn’t be prepared in time), Expo 67 opened to the general public on April 27, 1967.
Over the subsequent six months, Expo 67 was attended by Queen Elizabeth, President Lyndon Johnson, Princess Grace of Monaco, Robert F Kennedy, Ethiopia’s emperor Haile Selassie, and Charles de Gaulle of France. Celebrities included The Beatles’ guru, Maharashi Mahesh Yogi, Jaqueline Kennedy, Maurice Chevalier, and Marlene Dietrich.
There was additionally a big musical part. Bing Crosby, Harry Belafonte, jazz nice Thelonious Monk, Jefferson Airplane, Tiny Tim, and The Tokens all visited. Even The Ed Sullivan Present relocated from New York that Could, bringing in The Supremes, Petula Clark, and The Seekers.
Then there was the official theme tune, “Hey Friend, Say Friend/Un Jour, Un Jour,” by Quebec composer Stéphane Venne, which was picked from 2,200 entries submitted by 35 nations. However the tune that most individuals related to Expo 67 was “Ca-na-da” by Bobby Gimby, a industrial jingle author.
The Canadian Pavilion featured “Something To Sing About,” a tune initially written for a 1963 TV particular, and the Ontario Pavilion even had its personal tune, “A Place to Stand, A Place to Grow,” written by Dolores Claiborne, the identical lady who wrote the long-lasting Hockey Night time In Canada theme. In 2017, the tune was lined by Ginger Ale And And The Monowhales to have fun Ontario’s one hundred and fiftieth birthday.
Expo 67 was a large success and is taken into account to be one of the necessary occasions ever staged in Canada. It additionally stays the fourth best-attended of all world expositions and has since gone down in historical past as an occasion that bridged the “Two Solitudes” of Quebec and English Canada, and will likely be remembered by those that had been there as Canada’s very personal Woodstock. – Alan Cross
Comply with our Summer time Of Love playlist to proceed to relive the world-changing period.
