With how transformative Expo ’74 was for Spokane, it’s only fitting that the 50th anniversary celebration of the World’s Fair is expected to have a positive impact on the city, particularly in the downtown core. 

While official tourism and economic impact data won't be known until after the two-month celebration, the events are expected to draw a significant number of people to the downtown area, including out-of-town visitors.

"We are very much looking forward to it as an opportunity for people to come into downtown,” says Emilie Cameron, president and CEO of Downtown Spokane Partnership. “The positive impact of that is what it will do for our local economy as people are staying in our hotels, eating in our restaurants, shopping in our stores."

During the pandemic, fewer people spent time downtown, which contributed to an increase in public safety issues, Cameron told the Journal in a February Elevating the Conversation podcast. The Journal also reported last month that downtown office vacancies are nearing new highs.

An uptick in event activity will be good for the city’s core, Cameron says. Events are a crucial part of creating vibrancy, which spills over into economic impact and generates tax revenue while reinforcing brand identity, she says.

“Activity is an incredible way of reinvigorating any place, but especially a downtown."

Leading up to the 1974 Expo World’s Fair, a group of Spokane business leaders united and formed Spokane Unlimited, an organization focused on the goal of revitalizing the downtown core by removing train tracks and old parking lots and creating a central city park with the river running through it.

Thanks to the selection of Spokane as the host city of the World’s Fair, state and federal funding flowed into Spokane, allowing for redevelopment of the downtown area, including the creation of Riverfront Park. The event attracted roughly 5.2 million people to the Lilac City.

While World's Fairs might not carry the same cachet they once did, they're typically held in larger metropolitan areas, and Spokane still holds the distinction as the smallest city to host such an event. 

"Today and over the last several decades, we've continued to see how that's evolved with the enhancements made in the park over the last several years, as well as the amenities that are now surrounding the park, with the expanded Convention Center, The Podium, the (ONE Spokane) Stadium," says Cameron. “(Expo '74) absolutely revived Spokane. It transformed Spokane."

The 50th anniversary celebration is scheduled for two months, from May 4 to July 4, and will be kicked off by an opening ceremony that will feature live performances from arts, cultural, tribal, and community organizations. There also will be speakers, international cuisine, and recreational and wellness activities, according to the event listing on Visit Spokane’s website.

Matt Santangelo, the program manager for the anniversary celebration, says more events will continue to be added to the schedule.

"We're working on canoe races on the river, a multination powwow in the Convention Center, a big pickleball tournament, a community stage,” Santangelo says.

There will be numerous other events that fall under five categories that hearken back to Expo ‘74’s original pillars—Expo legacy, environmental stewardship, tribal culture, recreation and sport, and arts and culture. 

"It's a wide variety of things, from larger spectacle events, like opening ceremonies, to smaller volunteer opportunities that are about getting people out and taking care of our community," says Santangelo.

The events, especially the larger ones, are expected to bring more people downtown, who are expected spend money at nearby businesses.

Although the local crowd may make up a good portion of increased foot traffic downtown during the two-month celebration, tourism also is expected to rise because of the anniversary celebration, says Rose Noble, president and CEO of Visit Spokane.

She says Visit Spokane is receiving calls daily from people who remember Expo and are looking for more information about the celebration or trying to plan trips to come visit during the festivities.

"We're expecting large numbers,” Noble says. “We've had good interest on the digital platforms that we have posted on. We have a lot of great engagement on the community level and the leadership level."

As of late February, about 16,000 people had responded to the celebration’s event listing, expressing that they’re interested in attending, Noble says.

The anniversary celebration’s impact on tourism comes as Spokane is experiencing an increase in convention tourism activity.

In a piece published by the Journal last month, Noble says Spokane convention tourism activity is up by 10% compared with pre-pandemic levels, while the national average is still down by about 9%.

The planned Expo activities join an already busy 2024 event schedule for the Lilac City.

"May and June is a busy time in Spokane anyway,” Noble says. “On top of the events like Bloomsday and Hoopfest, adding even more activity is super exciting."

The annual 12K Bloomsday race takes place May 5, the day after Expo celebrations get started, and Hoopfest, the annual 3-on-3 basketball tournament, takes place during the last weekend of June.

"Events mean business, and that means that all of the small businesses that are in proximity to where these events are happening are getting foot traffic and dollars spent in their business," Noble says.

Because of how it impacted the city 50 years ago, Santangelo says the people who brought the World’s Fair here are directly responsible for ideas like Bloomsday and Hoopfest, because they showed that it’s possible to do big things in Spokane on a world-class scale.

"(Expo '74) clearly transformed our city in so many different ways that we enjoy now,” he says.

Santangelo says he hopes that by working together on the anniversary celebration, Spokane organizations will create or reignite pathways of communication, which could lead to future collaboration and lasting impacts for the city.

"When you talk about Expo, it's really one of those things in our community that connects us," he says.

Cameron also hopes to see a lasting impact from the anniversary celebration.

"What is so unique about the celebration of Expo is that it is somewhat of a rallying cry for Spokane,” Cameron says. "There's a lot of appreciation for how 50 years ago, this event reset the trajectory of the city. Can this be another launching point for an opportunity for Spokane moving forward?"