Ask those fortunate enough to have visited Expo 67 during our centennial summer to sum up the experience in one word and the word you hear most often is "magical". It is the perfect word for that time forty years ago.
For Canadians especially, it was magical because it not only was it the year we turned one-hundred, but it made the prophesy that "the 20th century belonged to Canada" not only seem possible, but inevitable. In St. Lambert we were privileged. We had a front row seat, watching the dream become a reality, just across the river.
In my 35 years working for the CBC I had many memorable experiences. I had shivered in an igloo in a remote Inuit settlement 600 kilometers north of the Arctic circle in January. I had sweltered in the Florida heat in March, covering the Expos spring training. I had lived in three cities . . . Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal . . . done stories in all ten provinces, the Territories and the Yukon. But nothing compared with that summer in 1967 when I was the CBC's television news assignment editor at Expo.
Talk about a plum job. There I was, in the International Broadcast Center on the site every day, rubbing shoulders with the world's best journalists. My task - decide which stories the CBC should cover. In order to make my decision easier I was given a pass that allowed me into every pavilion, every building and every venue on the site, without any waiting in line. I didn't even have to file stories. It was my "chore" to scout out locations and events, then send out camera crews and reporters to do the heavy lifting. It was, in short, a dream assignment.
Even the weather seemed to co-operate. I'm sure it must have rained that summer, but I don't remember any rain. I visited every pavilion on the site, ate an incredible variety of meals, served up by chefs from around the world. I spent days in La Ronde, took every ride offered in the amusement park.
By day Expo was a feast of sights, sounds and layered with smell of exotic food cooking. But it was at twilight, when the word 'magical" seemed to fit best. The evening before the official opening, the press corps and VIPs were given a tour of the site. The islands seemed to glow with a mysterious sense of anticipation. It was a jewel, confident that it would soon win the public's approval with its stunning beauty. The only sound was an instrumental version Bobby Gimby's Expo theme song, C-A-N-A-D-A, playing softly.
The next day the people flooded in and it wasn't long before the verdict was rendered. Expo 67 was a smashing success. And I noticed that with the visitors crowding the site, everything changed. People became the lifeblood of Expo 67. They transfused the islands with vitality and charged the entire site with a sense of excitement. For visitors it was the right time and the right place.Everything seemed possible that summer.
Magical. Yes, that's the right word. Magical!
by Andrew Little
