Expo '74 was more than a World's Fair—it was a testament to what’s possible when a small group of people come together with a bold vision.

In our final episode, we explore how this landmark event transformed Spokane and continues to inspire ideas about sustainability, community, and the power of collective action to shape the future.

“And King Cole's image of the heart of a city is so important. The downtown is so important. He not only resuscitated the downtown, but arguably he resuscitated the hearts of a lot of folks living in Spokane, feeling that there could be a brighter future, that good things could happen.”

- Bill Youngs, historian, professor, and author of “The Fair and The Falls”

For over 10,000 years, the Spokane River shaped the identity of the Spokane Tribe—but centuries of disruption took their toll. In Episode 6, we uncover how the 1974 World’s Fair ignited a powerful movement for the Tribe to reclaim their heritage, heal the river, and redefine their future.

"When Expo ‘74 made a big deal about the first environmental Expo, our chairman, Alex Sherwood, in the ‘70’s said, your people have been polluting our river since you got here. And Expo did do a lot on the surface to clean it up, but our people knew what it was like before.”

- Margo Hill, professor and former Tribal attorney and judge

Expo ‘74 was a pioneering World’s Fair due in large part to its groundbreaking environmental theme, which channeled the rapidly growing eco-consciousness of the late 1960’s and early ‘70’s.

But beyond bold messaging, how did this theme materialize in 1974? Where did the Fair's environmental commitments hit their mark, and in what areas did reality fail to match the rhetoric? And what did this mean for Spokane?

“It's the first time a World's Fair has an environmental theme. It's the first time a World's Fair is not focused on something that's architectural. The architectural theme of the fair is the river, is cleanup, is urban renewal, is kind of restoring back, and there are critiques to that.”

- Anna Harbine, archivist at The Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture