The 1967 International and Universal Exposition, commonly known as Expo 67, was a general exhibition from April 28 to October 29, 1967.
It was a category one
world's fair
A world's fair, also known as a universal exhibition, is a large global exhibition designed to showcase the achievements of nations. These exhibitions vary in character and are held in different parts of the world at a specific site for a perio ...
held in
Montreal
Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...
, Quebec, Canada. It is considered to be one of the most successful World's Fairs of the 20th century with the most attendees to that date and 62 nations participating. It also set the single-day attendance record for a world's fair, with 569,500 visitors on its third day.
Expo 67 was Canada's main celebration during its
centennial year. The fair had been intended to be held in
Moscow
Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...
, to help the
Soviet Union
The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
celebrate the
Russian Revolution
The Russian Revolution was a period of Political revolution (Trotskyism), political and social revolution, social change in Russian Empire, Russia, starting in 1917. This period saw Russia Dissolution of the Russian Empire, abolish its mona ...
's 50th anniversary; however, for various reasons, the Soviets decided to cancel, and Canada was awarded it in late 1962.
The project was not well supported in Canada at first. It took the determination of Montreal's mayor,
Jean Drapeau
Jean Drapeau (; 18 February 1916 – 12 August 1999) was a Canadian politician who served as mayor of Montreal for 2 non-consecutive terms from 1954 to 1957 and from 1960 to 1986.
Major accomplishments of the Drapeau Administration include ...
, and a new team of managers to guide it past political, physical and temporal hurdles. Defying a computer analysis that said it could not be done, the fair opened on time.
After Expo 67 ended in October 1967, the site and most of the pavilions continued on as an exhibition called Man and His World, open during the summer months from 1968 until 1984. By that time, most of the buildings—which had not been designed to last beyond the original exhibition—had deteriorated and were dismantled. Today,
the islands
The Islands was a provincial electoral district in the Canadian province of British Columbia. It first appeared on the hustings in the 1890 British Columbia general election, 1890 provincial election and lasted until it was integrated into the new ...
that hosted the world exhibition are mainly used as parkland and for recreational use, with only a few remaining structures from Expo 67 to show that the event was held there.
History
Background
The idea of hosting the 1967 World Exhibition dates back to 1957. "I believe it was
Colonel Sevigny who first asked me to do what I could to bring Canada's selection as the site for the international exposition in 1967," wrote Prime Minister
John Diefenbaker
John George Diefenbaker (September 18, 1895 – August 16, 1979) was the 13th prime minister of Canada, serving from 1957 to 1963. He was the only Progressive Conservative Party of Canada, Progressive Conservative party leader between 1930 an ...
in his memoir. Montreal's mayor,
Sarto Fournier
Sarto Fournier (15 February 1908 – 23 July 1980) Obituary, age 72. was a Canadian politician. He served as mayor of Montreal from 1957 to 1960.
Biography
Born in East Broughton, Quebec to a family of Quebecois and Italian-Canadian or ...
, backed the proposal, allowing Canada to make a bid to the
Bureau International des Expositions
The Bureau International des Expositions (BIE; English: International Exhibitions Bureau) is an intergovernmental organization created to supervise international exhibitions (also known as expos, global expos or world expos) falling under the ...
(BIE). At the BIE's May 5, 1960 meeting in
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
, Moscow was awarded the fair after five rounds of voting that eliminated Austria's and then Canada's bids. In April 1962,
however, the Soviets scrapped plans to host the fair because of financial constraints and security concerns.
Montreal's new mayor,
Jean Drapeau
Jean Drapeau (; 18 February 1916 – 12 August 1999) was a Canadian politician who served as mayor of Montreal for 2 non-consecutive terms from 1954 to 1957 and from 1960 to 1986.
Major accomplishments of the Drapeau Administration include ...
, lobbied the Canadian government to try again for the fair, which they did. On November 13, 1962,
the BIE changed the location of the World Exhibition to Canada,
and Expo 67 went on to become the second-best attended BIE-sanctioned
world exposition
A world's fair, also known as a universal exhibition, is a large global exhibition designed to showcase the achievements of nations. These exhibitions vary in character and are held in different parts of the world at a specific site for a perio ...
, after the
1900 Exposition Universelle in Paris. (It is now fourth, having been surpassed by
Osaka (1970) and
Shanghai (2010).)
Several sites were proposed as the main Expo grounds. One location that was considered was
Mount Royal
Mount Royal (, ) is a mountain in the city of Montreal, immediately west of Downtown Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The city's name is derived from the mountain's name.
The mountain is part of the Monteregian Hills situated between the Laurentian M ...
Park, to the north of the downtown core.
But it was Drapeau's idea to create new islands in the St. Lawrence river, and to enlarge the existing
Saint Helen's Island
Saint Helen's Island () is an island in the St. Lawrence River, in the territory of the city of Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It forms part of the Hochelaga Archipelago. It is situated immediately offshore from Old Montreal on the southeastern sid ...
. The choice overcame opposition from Montreal's surrounding municipalities, and also prevented land speculation. On March 29, 1963, the location for the World's Fair was officially announced as being Saint Helen's Island.
Key people
Expo 67 did not get off to a smooth start; in 1963, many top organizing committee officials resigned. The main reason for the resignations was Mayor Drapeau's choice of the site on new islands to be created around the existing St. Helen's Island and also that a computer program predicted that the event could not possibly be constructed in time.
Another more likely reason for the mass resignations was that on April 22, 1963, the federal
Liberal government of Prime Minister
Lester Pearson
Lester Bowles Pearson (23 April 1897 – 27 December 1972) was a Canadian politician, diplomat, statesman, and scholar who served as the 14th prime minister of Canada from 1963 to 1968. He also served as Leader of the Liberal Party of C ...
took power. This meant that former Prime Minister
John Diefenbaker
John George Diefenbaker (September 18, 1895 – August 16, 1979) was the 13th prime minister of Canada, serving from 1957 to 1963. He was the only Progressive Conservative Party of Canada, Progressive Conservative party leader between 1930 an ...
's
Progressive Conservative government appointees to the board of directors of the Canadian Corporation for the 1967 World Exhibition were likely forced to resign.
[Berton, p. 262]
Canadian diplomat
Pierre Dupuy was named Commissioner General, after Diefenbaker appointee Paul Bienvenu resigned from the post in 1963.
[Berton, p. 263] One of the main responsibilities of the Commissioner General was to attract other nations to build pavilions at Expo.
Dupuy would spend most of 1964 and 1965 soliciting 125 countries, spending more time abroad than in Canada.
[Berton, p. 264] Dupuy's 'right-hand' man was
Robert Fletcher Shaw, the deputy commissioner general and vice-president of the corporation.
He also replaced a Diefenbaker appointee, C.F. Carsley, Deputy Commissioner General.
Shaw was a professional engineer and builder, and is widely credited for the total building of the Exhibition.
Dupuy hired Andrew Kniewasser as the general manager. The management group became known as ''Les Durs''—the tough guys—and they were in charge of creating, building and managing Expo.
''Les Durs'' consisted of: Jean-Claude Delorme, Legal Counsel and Secretary of the Corporation; Dale Rediker, Director of Finances; Colonel Edward Churchill, Director of Installations;
Philippe de Gaspé Beaubien, Director of Operations, dubbed "The Mayor of Expo"; Pierre de Bellefeuille, Director of Exhibitors; and Yves Jasmin, Director of Information, Advertising and Public Relations.
To this group the chief architect Édouard Fiset was added. All ten were honoured by the Canadian government as recipients of the Order of Canada, Companions for Dupuy and Shaw, Officers for the others.
Jasmin wrote a book, in French, ''La petite histoire d'Expo 67'', about his 45-month experience at Expo and created the Expo 67 Foundation (available on the web site under that name) to commemorate the event for future generations.
As historian
Pierre Berton
Pierre Francis de Marigny Berton, CC, O.Ont. (July 12, 1920 – November 30, 2004) was a Canadian historian, writer, journalist and broadcaster. Berton wrote 50 best-selling books, mainly about Canadiana, Canadian history and popular cultur ...
put it, the cooperation between Canada's French- and English-speaking communities "was the secret of Expo's success—'the
Québécois flair, the English-Canadian pragmatism.'" However, Berton also points out that this is an over-simplification of national stereotypes. Arguably Expo did, for a short period anyway, bridge the "
Two Solitudes."
Montebello conference produces theme
In May 1963, a group of prominent Canadian thinkers—including Alan Jarvis, director of the
National Gallery of Canada
The National Gallery of Canada (), located in the capital city of Ottawa, Ontario, is Canada's National museums of Canada, national art museum. The museum's building takes up , with of space used for exhibiting art. It is one of the List of large ...
; novelists
Hugh MacLennan
John Hugh MacLennan (March 20, 1907 – November 9, 1990) was a Canadian writer and professor of English at McGill University. He won five Governor General's Awards and a Royal Bank Award.
Family and childhood
MacLennan was born in Glace B ...
and
Gabrielle Roy
Gabrielle Roy (; March 22, 1909July 13, 1983) was a Canadian author from St. Boniface, Manitoba and one of the major figures in French Canadian literature.
Early life
Roy was born in 1909 in Saint-Boniface (now part of Winnipeg), Manitoba, an ...
;
John Tuzo Wilson
John Tuzo Wilson (October 24, 1908 – April 15, 1993) was a Canadian geophysicist and geologist who achieved worldwide acclaim for his contributions to the theory of plate tectonics. He added the concept of ''hot spots'', a volcanic region hott ...
, geophysicist; and Claude Robillard, town planner—met for three days at the
Seigneury Club in
Montebello, Quebec
Montebello () is a Municipality (Quebec), municipality located in the Papineau Regional County Municipality of Western Quebec, Canada. At the 2021 census, there were 934 permanent residents. The village has a total area of , and is located at the ...
. The theme, "Man and His World", was based on the 1939 book entitled ''Terre des Hommes'' (translated as ''
Wind, Sand and Stars
''Wind, Sand and Stars'' (French title: ''Terre des hommes'', literally "Land of Men") is a memoir by the French aristocrat aviator-writer Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, and a winner of several literary awards.
It was first published in France in F ...
'') by
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Antoine Marie Jean-Baptiste Roger, vicomte de Saint-Exupéry (29 June 1900 – 31 July 1944), known simply as Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (, , ), was a French writer, poet, journalist and aviator.
Born in Lyon to an French nobility, aristocratic ...
. In Roy's introduction to the Expo 67 corporation's book, entitled ''Terre des Hommes/Man and His World'', she elucidates the theme:
The organizers also created seventeen theme elements for Man and his World:
* Du Pont Auditorium of Canada: The philosophy and scientific content of theme exhibits were presented and emphasized in this 372 seat hall.
*
Habitat 67
Habitat 67, or simply Habitat, is a housing complex at Cité du Havre, on the Saint Lawrence River, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, designed by Israeli-Canadian- American architect Moshe Safdie. It originated in his master's thesis at the School of Ar ...
* Labyrinth
* Man and his Health
* Man in the Community
* Man the Explorer: Man, his Planet and Space; Man and Life; Man and the Oceans; Man and the Polar Regions
* Man the Creator: The Gallery of Fine Arts; Contemporary Sculpture; Industrial Design; Photography.
* Man the Producer: Resources for Man; Man in Control; Progress.
* Man the Provider
Construction begins

Construction started on August 13, 1963, with an elaborate ceremony hosted by Mayor Drapeau on barges anchored in the St. Lawrence River.
Ceremonially, construction began when Prime Minister
Lester B. Pearson
Lester Bowles Pearson (23 April 1897 – 27 December 1972) was a Canadian politician, diplomat, statesman, and scholar who served as the 14th prime minister of Canada from 1963 to 1968. He also served as Leader of the Liberal Party of C ...
pulled a lever that signalled a front-end loader to dump the first batch of fill to enlarge ''
Île Sainte-Hélène
Saint Helen's Island () is an island in the St. Lawrence River, in the territory of the city of Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It forms part of the Hochelaga Archipelago. It is situated immediately offshore from Old Montreal on the southeastern sid ...
'', and Quebec premier
Jean Lesage
Jean Lesage (; June 10, 1912 – December 12, 1980) was a Canadian lawyer and politician. He served as the 19th premier of Quebec from July 5, 1960, to June 16, 1966. Alongside Georges-Émile Lapalme, René Lévesque and others, he is often v ...
spread the fill with a bulldozer.
Of the 25 million tons of fill needed to construct the islands, 10–12% was coming from the
Montreal Metro
The Montreal Metro (, ) is a rubber-tired underground rapid transit system serving Greater Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The metro, operated by the Société de transport de Montréal (STM), was inaugurated on October 14, 1966, during the tenure ...
's excavations, a public works project that was already under construction before Expo was awarded to Montreal. The remainder of the fill came from quarries on Montreal and the South Shore, however even with that it was insufficient and so bodies of water on both islands were added (lakes and canals) to reduce the amount of fill required. Expo's initial construction period mainly centered on enlarging Saint Helen's Island, creating the
artificial island
An artificial island or man-made island is an island that has been Construction, constructed by humans rather than formed through natural processes. Other definitions may suggest that artificial islands are lands with the characteristics of hum ...
of
ÃŽle Notre-Dame
Notre Dame Island () is an artificial island in the Saint Lawrence River in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is immediately to the east of Saint Helen's Island and west of the Saint Lawrence Seaway and the city of Saint-Lambert on the south shore. ...
and lengthening and enlarging the Mackay Pier which became the
Cité du Havre
Cité du Havre () is a neighbourhood in the borough of Ville-Marie of the city of Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is located on a narrow man-made peninsula, the Mackay Pier (''Jetée Mackay''), which was largely built to protect the Old Port of Montr ...
. While construction continued, the land rising out of Montreal harbour was not owned by the Expo Corporation yet. After the final mounds of earth completed the islands, the grounds that would hold the fair were officially transferred from the City of Montreal to the corporation on June 20, 1964.
This gave Colonel Churchill only 1042 days to have everything built and functioning for opening day. To get Expo built in time, Churchill used the then new project management tool known as the
critical path method
The critical path method (CPM), or critical path analysis (CPA), is an algorithm for schedule (project management), scheduling a set of project activities. A critical path is determined by identifying the longest stretch of dependent activiti ...
(CPM).
On April 28, 1967, opening day, everything was ready, with one exception: Habitat 67, which was then displayed as a work in progress.
Building and enlarging the islands, along with the new
Concorde Bridge built to connect them with the site-specific mass transit system known as the
Montreal Expo Express, plus a boat pier, cost more than the
Saint Lawrence Seaway
The St. Lawrence Seaway () is a system of rivers, locks, canals and channels in Eastern Canada and Northern United States that permits oceangoing vessels to travel from the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes of North America, as far inland ...
project did only five years earlier: this was even before any buildings or infrastructure were constructed.
With the initial phase of construction completed, it is easy to see why the budget for the exhibition was going to be larger than anyone expected. In the fall of 1963, Expo's general manager, Andrew Kniewasser, presented the master plan and the preliminary budget of $167 million for construction: it would balloon to over $439 million by 1967. The plan and budget narrowly passed a vote in Pearson's federal cabinet, passing by one vote, and then it was officially submitted on December 23, 1963.
Logo
The
logo
A logo (abbreviation of logotype; ) is a graphic mark, emblem, or symbol used to aid and promote public identification and recognition. It may be of an abstract or figurative design or include the text of the name that it represents, as in ...
was designed by Montreal artist Julien Hébert.
The basic unit of the logo is an ancient symbol of man. Two of the symbols (pictograms of "man") are linked as to represent friendship. The icon was repeated in a circular arrangement to represent "friendship around the world".
[Expo 67 Guidebook, p. 29] The logotype uses the lower-case
Optima
Optima is a Humanist sans-serif, humanist sans-serif typeface designed by Hermann Zapf and released by the D. Stempel AG foundry, Frankfurt, West Germany in 1958.
Though classified as a sans-serif, Optima has a subtle swelling at the terminals s ...
typeface. It did not enjoy unanimous support from federal politicians, as some of them tried to kill it with a motion in the
House of Commons of Canada
The House of Commons of Canada () is the lower house of the Parliament of Canada. Together with the Monarchy of Canada#Parliament (King-in-Parliament), Crown and the Senate of Canada, they comprise the Bicameralism, bicameral legislature of Ca ...
.
Theme songs
The official Expo 67 theme song was composed by
Stéphane Venne and was titled: "Hey Friend, Say Friend/Un Jour, Un Jour".
[
] Complaints were made about the suitability of the song, as its lyrics mentioned neither Montreal nor Expo 67.
The song was selected from an international competition with over 2,200 entries from 35 countries.
However, the song that most Canadians associate with Expo was written by
Bobby Gimby, a veteran commercial jingle writer who composed the popular Centennial tune "
Ca-na-da".
Gimby earned the name the "
Pied Piper
The Pied Piper of Hamelin (, also known as the Pan Piper or the Rat-Catcher of Hamelin) is the title character of a legend from the town of Hamelin (Hameln), Lower Saxony, Germany.
The legend dates back to the Middle Ages. The earliest refere ...
of Canada".
The theme song "
Something to Sing About
Something may refer to:
Philosophy and language
* Something (concept)
* "Something", an English indefinite pronoun
Music Albums
* ''Something'' (Chairlift album), 2012
* ''Something'' (Shirley Bassey album), 1970
* ''Something'' (Shirley Scot ...
", used for the Canadian pavilion, had been written for a 1963 television special.
The Ontario pavilion also had its own theme song: "
A Place to Stand, A Place to Grow
"A Place to Stand, a Place to Grow" (''Ontari-ari-ari-o!'') is the unofficial provincial anthem of the Canadian province of Ontario. It was written as the signature tune for a movie of the same name that was featured at the Expo 67 Ontario pavili ...
", which has evolved to become an unofficial theme song for the province.
Expo opens
Official opening ceremonies were held on Thursday afternoon, April 27, 1967.
The ceremonies were an invitation-only event, held at Place des Nations.
Canada's
Governor General
Governor-general (plural governors-general), or governor general (plural governors general), is the title of an official, most prominently associated with the British Empire. In the context of the governors-general and former British colonies, ...
,
Roland Michener
Daniel Roland Michener (April 19, 1900 – August 6, 1991) was a Canadian lawyer, politician, and diplomat who served as the 20th governor general of Canada from 1967 to 1974.
Michener was born and educated in Alberta. In 1917 he served briefl ...
, proclaimed the exhibition open after the Expo flame was ignited by Prime Minister Pearson.
On hand were over 7,000 media and invited guests including 53 heads of state.
Over 1,000 reporters covered the event, broadcast in
NTSC
NTSC (from National Television System Committee) is the first American standard for analog television, published and adopted in 1941. In 1961, it was assigned the designation System M. It is also known as EIA standard 170.
In 1953, a second ...
Colour, live via satellite, to a worldwide audience of over 700 million viewers and listeners.
Expo 67 opened to the public on the morning of Friday, April 28, 1967, with a
space age
The Space Age is a period encompassing the activities related to the space race, space exploration, space technology, and the cultural developments influenced by these events, beginning with the launch of Sputnik 1 on October 4, 1957, and co ...
-style countdown.
A capacity crowd at Place d'Accueil participated in the atomic clock-controlled countdown that ended when the exhibition opened precisely at 9:30 a.m. EST.
An estimated crowd of between 310,000 and 335,000 visitors showed up for opening day, as opposed to the expected crowd of 200,000. The first person through the Expo gates at ''Place d'Accueil'' was Al Carter, a 41-year-old jazz drummer from
Chicago
Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...
, who was recognized for his accomplishment by Expo 67's director of operations Philippe de Gaspé Beaubien.
Beaubien presented Carter with a gold watch for his feat.
On opening day, there was considerable comment on the uniform of the hostesses from the UK Pavilion. The dresses had been designed to the then-new
miniskirt
A miniskirt (or mini-skirt, mini skirt, or mini) is a skirt with its hemline well above the knees, generally at mid-thigh level, normally no longer than below the buttocks; and a dress with such a hemline is called a minidress or a miniskirt ...
style, popularized a year earlier by
Mary Quant
Dame Barbara Mary Quant (11 February 1930 – 13 April 2023) was a British fashion designer and icon. She became an instrumental figure in the 1960s London-based Mod and youth fashion movements, and played a prominent role in London's Swingi ...
.
In conjunction with the opening of Expo 67, the Canadian
Post Office Department
The United States Post Office Department (USPOD; also known as the Post Office or U.S. Mail) was the predecessor of the United States Postal Service, established in 1792. From 1872 to 1971, it was officially in the form of a Cabinet departme ...
issued a 5¢ stamp commemorating the fair, designed by Harvey Thomas Prosser.
Entertainment, Ed Sullivan Show, and VIPs
The World Festival of Art and Entertainment at Expo 67 featured art galleries, opera, ballet and theatre companies, orchestras, jazz groups, famous Canadian pop musicians and other cultural attractions.
Many pavilions had music and performance stages, where visitors could find free concerts and shows, including the
Ukrainian Shumka Dancers.
Micheline Legendre organized Canada's first
puppetry
Puppetry is a form of theatre or performance that involves the manipulation of puppets – wikt:inanimate, inanimate objects, often resembling some type of human or animal figure, that are animated or manipulated by a human called a puppeteer. S ...
festival in conjunction with the Expo.
Most of the featured entertainment took place in the following venues:
Place des Arts
frame, View of the Place des Arts esplanade. The Musée d'art contemporain is on the left; behind it is the Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier, with the Théâtre Maisonneuve on the right.
Place des Arts () is a major performing arts centre in Montreal, Q ...
, Expo Theatre, Place des Nations,
La Ronde, and
Automotive Stadium.
The
La Ronde amusement park was always intended to be a lasting legacy of the fair. Most of its rides and booths were permanent. When the Expo fairgrounds closed nightly, at around 10:00 p.m., visitors could still visit La Ronde, which closed at 2:30 a.m.
In addition, ''
The Ed Sullivan Show
''The Ed Sullivan Show'' is an American television variety show that ran on CBS from June 20, 1948, to March 28, 1971, and was hosted by New York City, New York entertainment columnist Ed Sullivan. It was replaced in September 1971 by the ''CB ...
'' was broadcast live on May 7 and 21 from Expo 67. Stars on the shows included America's
the Supremes
The Supremes were an American girl group formed in Detroit, Michigan, in 1959 as the Primettes. A premier act of Motown Records during the 1960s, the Supremes were the most commercially successful of Motown's acts and the most successful Amer ...
, Britain's
Petula Clark
Sally "Petula" Clark (born 15 November 1932) is a British singer, actress, and songwriter. She started her professional career as a child actor, child performer and has had the longest career of any British entertainer, spanning more than 85 y ...
and Australia's
the Seekers
The Seekers were an Australian folk music, folk-influenced pop music, pop group originally formed in Melbourne in 1962. They were the first Australian pop music group to achieve major chart and sales success in the United Kingdom and the Unit ...
.
Another attraction was the
Canadian Armed Forces Tattoo 1967
The Canadian Forces Tattoo 1967 was a series of military tattoos or displays performed by members of the Canadian military portraying more than three hundred years of Canada's military history.
The Tattoo, which was the Canadian military's contr ...
at the
Autostade in Montreal.
The fair was visited by many of the most notable people at the time, including
Canada's monarch, Queen
Elizabeth II
Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 19268 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. ...
,
Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon Baines Johnson (; August 27, 1908January 22, 1973), also known as LBJ, was the 36th president of the United States, serving from 1963 to 1969. He became president after the assassination of John F. Kennedy, under whom he had served a ...
,
Princess Grace
Grace Patricia Kelly (November 12, 1929 – September 14, 1982), also known as Grace of Monaco, was an American actress and Princess of Monaco as the wife of Prince Rainier III from Wedding of Rainier III, Prince of Monaco, and Grace Kelly, th ...
of Monaco,
Jacqueline Kennedy
Jacqueline Lee Kennedy Onassis ( ; July 28, 1929 – May 19, 1994) was an American writer, book editor, and socialite who served as the first lady of the United States from 1961 to 1963, as the wife of President John F. Kennedy. A popular f ...
,
Robert F. Kennedy
Robert Francis Kennedy (November 20, 1925 – June 6, 1968), also known as RFK, was an American politician and lawyer. He served as the 64th United States attorney general from January 1961 to September 1964, and as a U.S. senator from New Yo ...
,
Ethiopia
Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east, Ken ...
's emperor
Haile Selassie
Haile Selassie I (born Tafari Makonnen or ''Ethiopian aristocratic and court titles#Lij, Lij'' Tafari; 23 July 189227 August 1975) was Emperor of Ethiopia from 1930 to 1974. He rose to power as the Ethiopian aristocratic and court titles, Rege ...
,
Charles de Gaulle
Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle (22 November 18909 November 1970) was a French general and statesman who led the Free France, Free French Forces against Nazi Germany in World War II and chaired the Provisional Government of the French Re ...
,
Bing Crosby
Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby Jr. (May 3, 1903 – October 14, 1977) was an American singer, comedian, entertainer and actor. The first multimedia star, he was one of the most popular and influential musical artists of the 20th century worldwi ...
,
Harry Belafonte
Harry Belafonte ( ; born Harold George Bellanfanti Jr.; March 1, 1927 – April 25, 2023) was an American singer, actor, and civil rights activist who popularized calypso music with international audiences in the 1950s and 1960s. Belafonte ...
,
Maurice Chevalier
Maurice Auguste Chevalier (; 12 September 1888 – 1 January 1972) was a French singer, actor, and entertainer. He is best known for his signature songs, including " Livin' In The Sunlight", " Valentine", " Louise", " Mimi", and " Thank Heaven f ...
,
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi (born Mahesh Prasad Varma, 12 January 191? – 5 February 2008) was the creator of Transcendental Meditation (TM) and leader of the worldwide organization that has been characterized in multiple ways, including as a new ...
and
Marlene Dietrich
Marie Magdalene "Marlene" DietrichBorn as Maria Magdalena, not Marie Magdalene, according to Dietrich's biography by her daughter, Maria Riva ; however, Dietrich's biography by Charlotte Chandler cites "Marie Magdalene" as her birth name . (, ; ...
.
Musicians like
Thelonious Monk
Thelonious Sphere Monk ( October 10, 1917 – February 17, 1982) was an American Jazz piano, jazz pianist and composer. He had a unique improvisational style and made numerous contributions to the Jazz standard, standard jazz repertoire, includ ...
,
Grateful Dead
The Grateful Dead was an American rock music, rock band formed in Palo Alto, California, in 1965. Known for their eclectic style that fused elements of rock, blues, jazz, Folk music, folk, country music, country, bluegrass music, bluegrass, roc ...
,
Tiny Tim,
the Tokens
The Tokens were an American doo-wop band (rock and pop), band and production of phonograph records, record production company group from Brooklyn, Brooklyn, New York City. The group had four top 40 hits on the Billboard Hot 100, ''Billboard'' H ...
and
Jefferson Airplane
Jefferson Airplane was an American Rock music, rock band formed in San Francisco, California, in 1965. One of the pioneering bands of psychedelic rock, the group defined the San Francisco Sound and was the first from the San Francisco Bay Area, ...
entertained the crowds.
Problems
Despite its successes, there were problems:
Front de libération du Québec
The (FLQ) was a Quebec separatist terrorist group which aimed to establish an independent and socialist Quebec. Founded sometime in the early 1960s, the FLQ conducted a number of attacks between 1963 and 1970,Reich, Walter. ''Origins of Terror ...
militants had threatened to disrupt the exhibition, but were inactive during this period. Vietnam war protesters picketed during the opening day, April 28.
American President
The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forc ...
Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon Baines Johnson (; August 27, 1908January 22, 1973), also known as LBJ, was the 36th president of the United States, serving from 1963 to 1969. He became president after the assassination of John F. Kennedy, under whom he had served a ...
's visit became a focus of war protesters. Threats that the Cuba pavilion would be destroyed by anti-Castro forces were not carried out.
In June, the
Arab–Israeli conflict
The Arab–Israeli conflict is a geopolitical phenomenon involving military conflicts and a variety of disputes between Israel and many Arab world, Arab countries. It is largely rooted in the historically supportive stance of the Arab League ...
in the
Middle East
The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq.
The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...
flared up again in the
Six-Day War
The Six-Day War, also known as the June War, 1967 Arab–Israeli War or Third Arab–Israeli War, was fought between Israel and a coalition of Arab world, Arab states, primarily United Arab Republic, Egypt, Syria, and Jordan from 5 to 10June ...
, which resulted in
Kuwait
Kuwait, officially the State of Kuwait, is a country in West Asia and the geopolitical region known as the Middle East. It is situated in the northern edge of the Arabian Peninsula at the head of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to Iraq–Kuwait ...
pulling out of the fair in protest to the way Western nations dealt with the war.
The president of France,
Charles De Gaulle
Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle (22 November 18909 November 1970) was a French general and statesman who led the Free France, Free French Forces against Nazi Germany in World War II and chaired the Provisional Government of the French Re ...
, caused an international incident on July 24 when he addressed thousands at Montreal City Hall by yelling out the words ''"Vive Montréal... Vive le Québec...
Vive le Québec Libre!
Vive may refer to:
*Vive, viva, and vivat, a Romance language expression
* ''Vive'' (José José album), 1974
* ''Vive'' (LucÃa Méndez album), 2004
*Vive (a cappella group), a cappella group from England, United Kingdom
*ViVe, a state-owned Vene ...
"''
In September, the most serious problem turned out to be a 30-day transit strike. By the end of July, estimates predicted that Expo would exceed 60 million visitors, but the strike cut deeply into attendance and revenue figures, just as the fair was cruising to its conclusion.
Another major problem, beyond the control of Expo's management, was guest accommodation and lodging. Logexpo was created to direct visitors to accommodations in the Montreal area, which usually meant that visitors would stay at the homes of people they were unfamiliar with, rather than traditional hotels or motels. The Montreal populace opened their homes to thousands of guests. Unfortunately for some visitors, they were sometimes sent to less than respectable establishments where operators took full advantage of the tourist trade. Management of Logexpo was refused to Expo and was managed by a Quebec provincial authority. Still, Expo would get most of the blame for directing visitors to these establishments. But overall, a visit to Expo from outside Montreal was still seen as a bargain.
Expo ends
Expo 67 closed on Sunday afternoon, October 29, 1967. The fair had been scheduled to close two days earlier, however a two-day extension granted by the
Bureau International des Expositions
The Bureau International des Expositions (BIE; English: International Exhibitions Bureau) is an intergovernmental organization created to supervise international exhibitions (also known as expos, global expos or world expos) falling under the ...
(BIE) allowed it to continue over the weekend. On the final day 221,554 visitors added to the more than 50 million (54,991,806
) that attended Expo 67 at a time when Canada's population was only 20 million, setting a per-capita record for World Exhibition attendance that still stands.
Starting at 2:00 p.m., Expo Commissioner General Pierre Dupuy officiated over the medal ceremony, in which participating nations and organizations received gold and silver medallions, and over the ceremony in which national flags were lowered in the reverse order to which they had been raised, with Canada's flag lowered first and
Nigeria
Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...
's lowered last.
After Prime Minister Pearson doused the Expo flame, Governor General
Roland Michener
Daniel Roland Michener (April 19, 1900 – August 6, 1991) was a Canadian lawyer, politician, and diplomat who served as the 20th governor general of Canada from 1967 to 1974.
Michener was born and educated in Alberta. In 1917 he served briefl ...
closed Expo at Place des Nations with the mournful spontaneous farewell: "It is with great regret that I declare that the Universal and International Exhibition of 1967 has come to an official end."
All rides and the
minirail were shut down by 3:50 p.m., and the Expo grounds closed at 4:00 p.m., with the last
Expo Express train leaving for ''Place d'Accueil'' at that time.
A fireworks display, that went on for an hour, was Expo's concluding event.
Expo performed better financially than expected. Expo was intended to have a deficit, shared between the federal, provincial and municipal levels of government. Significantly better-than-expected attendance revenue reduced the debt to well below the original estimates. The final financial statistics, in 1967 Canadian dollars, were: revenues of $221,239,872, costs of $431,904,683, and a deficit of $210,664,811.
Pavilions
Expo 67 featured 90 pavilions representing Man and His World themes, nations, corporations, and industries including the
U.S. pavilion, a
geodesic dome
A geodesic dome is a hemispherical thin-shell structure (lattice-shell) based on a geodesic polyhedron. The rigid triangular elements of the dome distribute stress throughout the structure, making geodesic domes able to withstand very heavy ...
designed by
Buckminster Fuller
Richard Buckminster Fuller (; July 12, 1895 – July 1, 1983) was an American architect, systems theorist, writer, designer, inventor, philosopher, and futurist. He styled his name as R. Buckminster Fuller in his writings, publishing more t ...
. Many pavilions had innovative presentations, almost all using film in one way or another; as a commentator said, "film was everywhere, unreeling at a furious rate. Expo was a fair of film."
Expo 67 also featured the
Habitat 67
Habitat 67, or simply Habitat, is a housing complex at Cité du Havre, on the Saint Lawrence River, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, designed by Israeli-Canadian- American architect Moshe Safdie. It originated in his master's thesis at the School of Ar ...
modular housing complex designed by architect
Moshe Safdie
Moshe Safdie (; born July 14, 1938) is an architect, urban planner, educator, theorist, and author. He is well known for incorporating principles of socially responsible design throughout his six-decade career. His projects include cultural, ed ...
, which was later purchased by private individuals and is still occupied.
The most popular pavilion was the Soviet Union's exhibit. It attracted about 13 million visitors.
Rounding out the top five pavilions, in terms of attendance were: the
Canadian Pavilion
The Canadian pavilion houses Canada's national representation during the Venice Biennale arts festivals.
Background
Organization and building
The Canadian pavilion was designed by the Italian architects BBPR and erected between 1956 ...
(11 million visitors), the United States (9 million), France (8.5 million), and Czechoslovakia (8 million).
The participating countries were
Several countries were absent due to different motives and financial reasons, including Spain, South Africa, the People's Republic of China, and many South American countries.
Legacy
Man and His World (1968–1984)
After 1967, the exposition struggled for several summer seasons as a standing collection of international pavilions known as "Man and His World".
However, as attendance declined, the physical condition of the site deteriorated, and less and less of it was open to the public. After the 1971 season, the entire Notre Dame Island site closed and three years later completely rebuilt around the new
rowing
Rowing is the act of propelling a human-powered watercraft using the sweeping motions of oars to displace water and generate reactional propulsion. Rowing is functionally similar to paddling, but rowing requires oars to be mechanically a ...
and
canoe sprint
Canoe sprint is a water sport in which athletes race in specially designed sprint canoes or sprint kayaks on calm water over a short distance. Prior to November 2008, canoe sprint was known as flatwater racing. The term is still in use today ...
(then
flatwater canoeing)
basin for Montreal's
1976 Summer Olympics
The 1976 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Montreal 1976 (), were an international multi-sport event held from July 17 to August 1, 1976, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Montreal ...
.
Space for the basin, the boathouses, the changing rooms and other buildings was obtained by demolishing many of the former pavilions and cutting in half the area taken by the artificial lake and the canals. By this point, both major transportation systems for the site, the
Blue Minirail and
Expo Express
The Expo Express was a rapid transit system consisting of five stations and a route, running from Cité du Havre to La Ronde (amusement park), La Ronde in Montreal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Built for the 1967 World's Fair (Expo 67) at a cost ...
, had permanently ceased operation.
In 1976, a fire destroyed the acrylic outer skin of
Buckminster Fuller
Richard Buckminster Fuller (; July 12, 1895 – July 1, 1983) was an American architect, systems theorist, writer, designer, inventor, philosopher, and futurist. He styled his name as R. Buckminster Fuller in his writings, publishing more t ...
's dome, and the previous year the Ontario pavilion was lost due to a major fire.
With the site falling into disrepair, and several pavilions left abandoned and vandalized, it began to resemble ruins of a futuristic city.
In 1980, the Notre Dame Island site was reopened (primarily for the
Floralies) making both islands simultaneously accessible again, albeit only for a brief time. Minor thematic exhibitions were held at the Atlantic pavilion and Quebec pavilion at this period. After the 1981 season, the Saint Helen's Island site permanently closed,
shutting out the majority of attractions. Man and His World was able to continue in a limited fashion with the small number of pavilions left standing on Notre Dame Island. However, the few remaining original exhibits closed permanently in 1984.
Park and surviving relics

After the Man and His World summer exhibitions were discontinued, with most pavilions and remnants demolished between 1985 and 1987, the former site for Expo 67 on
Saint Helen's Island
Saint Helen's Island () is an island in the St. Lawrence River, in the territory of the city of Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It forms part of the Hochelaga Archipelago. It is situated immediately offshore from Old Montreal on the southeastern sid ...
and
Notre Dame Island
Notre Dame Island () is an artificial island in the Saint Lawrence River in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is immediately to the east of Saint Helen's Island and west of the Saint Lawrence Seaway and the city of Saint-Lambert on the south sh ...
was incorporated into a municipal park run by the city of Montreal. The park, named Parc des ÃŽles, opened in 1992 during Montreal's 350th anniversary
In 2000, the park was renamed from Parc des ÃŽles to
Parc Jean-Drapeau
Jean Drapeau Park (formerly called ''Parc des ÃŽles'') is the third-largest park in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It comprises two islands, Saint Helen's Island and the artificial island Notre Dame Island, situated off the shore of Old Montreal in ...
, after Mayor
Jean Drapeau
Jean Drapeau (; 18 February 1916 – 12 August 1999) was a Canadian politician who served as mayor of Montreal for 2 non-consecutive terms from 1954 to 1957 and from 1960 to 1986.
Major accomplishments of the Drapeau Administration include ...
, who had brought the exhibition to Montreal. In 2006, the corporation that runs the park also changed its name from the ''Société du parc des Îles'' to the ''Société du parc Jean-Drapeau''.
Today very little remains of Expo but two prominent buildings remain in use on the former Expo grounds: the American pavilion's metal-lattice skeleton from its
Buckminster Fuller
Richard Buckminster Fuller (; July 12, 1895 – July 1, 1983) was an American architect, systems theorist, writer, designer, inventor, philosopher, and futurist. He styled his name as R. Buckminster Fuller in his writings, publishing more t ...
dome, now enclosing an environmental sciences museum called the
Montreal Biosphere
The Biosphere, also known as the Montreal Biosphere (, ), is a museum dedicated to the Natural environment, environment in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is housed in the former United States pavilion constructed for Expo 67 located within the gr ...
;
and
Habitat 67
Habitat 67, or simply Habitat, is a housing complex at Cité du Havre, on the Saint Lawrence River, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, designed by Israeli-Canadian- American architect Moshe Safdie. It originated in his master's thesis at the School of Ar ...
, now a condominium residence. The France and Quebec pavilions, now interconnected, now form the
Montreal Casino
The Montreal Casino ( French: ''Casino de Montréal'') located in Montreal, Quebec, is the largest casino in Canada. Situated on Notre Dame Island, in Jean-Drapeau Park, it consists of two former Expo 67 pavilion buildings. The casino is open t ...
.
Part of the structural remains of the Canadian pavilion survive as La Toundra Hall.
It is now a special events and banquet hall,
while another part of the pavilion serves as Parc Jean-Drapeau's administration building.
(
Katimavik's distinctive inverted pyramid and much of the rest of the Canadian pavilion were dismantled during the 1970s).
Place des Nations, where the opening and closing ceremonies were held remains, however in an abandoned and deteriorating state (its sizable walkways that bridged all the site's structures was demolished in 2024). The Jamaican, Tunisian and partial remains of the Korean pavilion (roof only) also survive, as well as the CIBC banking centre. In Cite du Havre the Expo Theatre, Administration and Fine Arts buildings remain. Other remaining structures include sculptures and landscaping. The
Montreal Metro
The Montreal Metro (, ) is a rubber-tired underground rapid transit system serving Greater Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The metro, operated by the Société de transport de Montréal (STM), was inaugurated on October 14, 1966, during the tenure ...
subway station
Berri-UQAM still has an original "Man and His World" welcome sign with logo above the pedestrian tunnel entrance to the
Yellow Line.
La Ronde continued to be operated by the City of Montreal following the Expo. In 2001 it was leased to the Texas-based amusement park company
Six Flags
Six Flags Entertainment Corporation is an American amusement park company headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, United States. It was formed on July 2, 2024, following a merger between longtime rivals Cedar Fair and the former Six Flags ...
, which has operated the park since. The
Alcan Aquarium built for the Expo remained in operation for a number of decades until its closure in 1991. The Expo 67 parking lot was converted into
Victoria STOLport, an experimental short-take off airport for a brief time in the 1970s.
The Olympic basin is used by many local rowing clubs.
A beach was built on the shores of the remaining artificial lake. There are many acres of parkland and cycle paths on both Saint Helen's Island and the western tip of Notre Dame Island. The site has been used for a number of events such as a BIE-sponsored international botanical festival, ''Les floralies''.
The young trees and shrubs planted for Expo 67 are now mature. The plants introduced during the botanical events have flourished also.
Another attraction on today's Notre Dame Island site is the
Circuit Gilles Villeneuve
The Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, also spelled ''Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve'' (), is a motor racing Race track, circuit on Notre Dame Island in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is the venue for the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile, FIA Form ...
race track that is used for the
Canadian Grand Prix
The Canadian Grand Prix () is an annual motor racing event held since 1961. It has been part of the Formula One World Championship since 1967. It was first staged at Mosport Park in Bowmanville, Ontario, as a sports car event, before alterna ...
.
The Czechoslovak pavilion was designed to be disassembled and sold, attracting the interest of the province of Newfoundland, though its bid was not preferred by the Czechoslovak government at first. On September 5, 1967,
Ceskoslovenske Aerolinie Flight 523 crashed during takeoff from
Gander International Airport
Gander International Airport is located in Gander, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, and is operated by the Gander International Airport Authority. Canadian Forces Base Gander shares the airfield but is a separate entity from the airport. Th ...
, and many people were saved by the residents of Gander, which may have led to Newfoundland's purchase offer being accepted. It was assembled as the
Grand Falls Arts and Culture Centre, now the Gordon Pinsent Centre for the Arts.
The government of Newfoundland also purchased the Yugoslavian pavilion, a triangular building that was converted into the Provincial Seamen's Museum in
Grand Bank
Grand Bank or 'Grand Banc' as the first French settlers pronounced it, is a small rural town in the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador, with a population of 2,580. It is located on the southern tip or "toe" of the Burin Peninsula (al ...
.
One of the few
Vaporettos that shuttled visitors around the park on "Expo Service No. 5" survived. After it was decommissioned it ended up in
Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island
Charlottetown is the capital and largest city of the Canadian province of Prince Edward Island, and the county seat of Queens County. Named after Queen Charlotte, Charlottetown was an unincorporated town until it was incorporated as a city in ...
in 1971 where it gave harbour tours. It was later moved to Nova Scotia and then New Brunswick. It has subsequently been renovated and returned to Charlottetown.
Expo's lasting effects
In a political and cultural context, Expo 67 was seen as a landmark moment in Canadian history.
In 1968, as a salute to the cultural impact the exhibition had on the city, Montreal's Major League
baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...
team, the
Expos
The Montreal Expos () were a Canadian professional baseball team based in Montreal. The Expos were the first Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise located outside the United States. They played in the National League (baseball), National League ...
(now the
Washington Nationals
The Washington Nationals are an American professional baseball team based in Washington, D.C. The Nationals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) East Division. They play their home games at Na ...
), was named after the event.
1967 was also the year that invited Expo guest
Charles De Gaulle
Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle (22 November 18909 November 1970) was a French general and statesman who led the Free France, Free French Forces against Nazi Germany in World War II and chaired the Provisional Government of the French Re ...
, on July 24, addressed thousands at Montreal City Hall by yelling out the now famous words: "Vive Montréal... Vive le Québec...
Vive le Québec Libre
" (, 'Long live free Quebec!') was a phrase in a speech delivered by French President Charles de Gaulle in Montreal, Quebec on July 24, 1967, during an official visit to Canada for the Expo 67 world's fair. While giving an address to a large c ...
!" De Gaulle was rebutted in
Ottawa
Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. It is located in the southern Ontario, southern portion of the province of Ontario, at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the cor ...
by Prime Minister
Lester B. Pearson
Lester Bowles Pearson (23 April 1897 – 27 December 1972) was a Canadian politician, diplomat, statesman, and scholar who served as the 14th prime minister of Canada from 1963 to 1968. He also served as Leader of the Liberal Party of C ...
: "Canadians do not need to be liberated, Canada will remain united and will reject any effort to destroy her unity."
In the years that followed, the tensions between the English- and French-speaking communities would continue. As an early 21st-century homage to the fair, satirists
Bowser and Blue
George Bowser and Rick Blue (real name Richard Elger), better known as Bowser and Blue, are a musical duo from Montreal who write and perform comedic songs. Their material ranges from absurdist humor ("I've Got a Great Big Dick", "Canadian Psyc ...
wrote a full-length musical set at Expo 67 called ''The Paris of America'', which ran for six sold-out weeks at Centaur Theatre in Montreal in April and May 2003.
Expo 67 was one of the most successful World Exhibitions, and is still regarded fondly by Canadians.
In Montreal, 1967 is often referred to as "the last good year" before economic decline,
Quebec sovereignism
The Quebec sovereignty movement (French: ''mouvement souverainiste du Québec'', ) is a political movement advocating for Quebec's independence from Canada. Proponents argue that Quebecers form a distinct nation with a unique culture, language, ...
(seen as negative from a federalist viewpoint), deteriorating infrastructure and political apathy became common. In this way, it has much in common with the 1964–65
New York World's Fair. In 2007, a new group,
Expo 17, was looking to bring a smaller-scale —
BIE sanctioned — exposition to Montreal for Expo 67's 50th anniversary and Canada's
sesquicentennial
An anniversary is the date on which an event took place or an institution was founded.
Most countries celebrate national anniversaries, typically called national days. These could be the date of independence of the nation or the adoption o ...
in 2017.
Expo 17 hoped a new world's fair would regenerate the spirit of Canada's landmark centennial project.
50th anniversary
Starting in the spring of 2017, as part of the 50th anniversary celebrations for Expo 67, the city of Montreal and the committee in charge of the celebrations of 375th anniversary of the founding of the city put forward a commemoration program including fourteen events.
* Between March 17 and October 1, the
McCord Museum
The McCord Stewart Museum, formerly known as the McCord Museum of Canadian History, is a public research and teaching museum. The Museum’s Archives, Documentary Art, Dress, Fashion and Textiles, Indigenous Cultures, Material Culture and Photogr ...
presented
Fashioning Expo 67, an exhibition focused on the fashion and esthetic that was put forward during the Expo.
* At the
Museum of Contemporary Art, the exhibition
In Search of Expo 67 offered nineteen works of art by artists who were born after the 1967 universal exposition. Their work was inspired by Expo 67 and shed a new light and vision on this event.
* The
Stewart Museum presented
Expo 67 – a World of Dreams, an immersive multimedia experience inspired by the technological innovations displayed during Expo 67. As part of the exhibition, visitors could experience Expo 67 through
virtual reality
Virtual reality (VR) is a Simulation, simulated experience that employs 3D near-eye displays and pose tracking to give the user an immersive feel of a virtual world. Applications of virtual reality include entertainment (particularly video gam ...
.
* The
Centre d'Histoire de Montréal put forward
Explosion 67 – Youth and their World, which presented youth's experience of the Expo 67 and was based on
archive
An archive is an accumulation of historical records or materials, in any medium, or the physical facility in which they are located.
Archives contain primary source documents that have accumulated over the course of an individual or organ ...
material and interviews.
* Echo 67 was presented at the Montreal Biosphere starting on April 27. This exhibition presented the environmental legacy of Expo 67.
* Outdoors exhibitions and events were presented across
downtown Montreal
Downtown Montreal (French language, French: ''Centre-Ville de Montréal'') is the central business district of Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
The district is situated on the southernmost slope of Mount Royal, and occupies the western portion of the ...
. From September 18 to 30, 2017, the central square of
Place des Arts
frame, View of the Place des Arts esplanade. The Musée d'art contemporain is on the left; behind it is the Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier, with the Théâtre Maisonneuve on the right.
Place des Arts () is a major performing arts centre in Montreal, Q ...
was the site of a multi-screen installation ''Expo 67 Live'', with images of Expo 67 projected onto exterior surfaces of arts complex, some as high as five storeys. The 27-minute work was produced by the
National Film Board of Canada
The National Film Board of Canada (NFB; ) is a Canadian public film and digital media producer and distributor. An agency of the Government of Canada, the NFB produces and distributes documentary films, animation, web documentaries, and altern ...
and was intended to create an immersive sense of being back at the world's fair, while also evoking the NFB's pioneering multi-screen production at Expo, ''
In the Labyrinth''. The installation is directed by and produced by
René Chénier
René Chénier is a Canadian film producer and an executive producer for the National Film Board of Canada.
Chénier co-produced Benoît Pilon's 2008 film ''The Necessities of Life'', and was nominated for the Genie Award for Best Motion Picture ...
.
* In April 2017,
the city hall of Montreal offered its visitors an exhibition of photographs taken during Expo 67.
* On April 25, the documentary thriller
Expo 67 Mission Impossible premiered at the
Maisonneuve theatre. It presents the story of the men and women who made Expo 67 a reality and uses archival footage and exclusive interviews with the creators of the 1967 World Fair. The film premiere was part of an event commemorating the 50th anniversary of the 1967 universal exposition.
When visiting these locations and taking part in these events, visitors had access to an electronic or paper passport in which they could collect stamps, just as it had been the case during Expo 67.
In popular culture
* A major portion of the movie "A Thief Is A Thief", which was the pilot episode of the television series
It Takes A Thief, was filmed at the Expo in 1967.
* In ''
Daredevil'' #33-34, cover-dated October-November 1967,
Matt Murdock
Daredevil is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer-editor Stan Lee and artist Bill Everett, with some input from Jack Kirby, the character first appeared in '' Daredevil'' #1 (April 1964).
...
and his friends
Foggy Nelson
Franklin Percy "Foggy" Nelson is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character has been depicted as part of the supporting cast of Daredevil (Matt Murdock); Foggy is Matt's best friend and, for ...
and
Karen Page
Karen Page is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics created by Stan Lee and Bill Everett. She served as the original love interest for Daredevil, working as an office manager for him and Foggy Nelson ...
take train up to Montreal to visit the Expo, where they encounter the
Beetle
Beetles are insects that form the Taxonomic rank, order Coleoptera (), in the superorder Holometabola. Their front pair of wings are hardened into wing-cases, elytra, distinguishing them from most other insects. The Coleoptera, with about 40 ...
.
* An episode of the 1970s television series
''Battlestar Galactica'', "Greetings from Earth Part 2", was filmed at the Expo site in 1979. The Expo structures were used to represent a city on an alien world where the people had all been killed by a long-ago war.
* The Canadian band
Alvvays
Alvvays (pronounced "always") is a Canadian indie pop band formed in 2011, originating from Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, and subsequently based in Toronto, Ontario. It consists of Molly Rankin (vocals and guitar), Kerri MacLellan (keybo ...
released a video for the song "Dreams Tonite" in which they have been digitally inserted into footage taken during the fair. The band said in a statement that Canada was at its coolest 50 years ago in Montreal at Expo '67".
* The 1988 song "
Purple Toupee
''Lincoln'' is the second studio album by the band They Might Be Giants. It was released by Bar/None in 1988. The album is named after John Linnell and John Flansburgh's boyhood home of Lincoln, Massachusetts. The album produced three singles� ...
" by
They Might Be Giants
They Might Be Giants, often abbreviated as TMBG, is an American alternative rock and Children's music, children's band formed in 1982 by John Flansburgh and John Linnell. During TMBG's early years, Flansburgh and Linnell frequently performed as ...
contains the line 'I shouted out, "Free the Expo '67"'.
See also
*
1967 in Canada
1967 is remembered as one of the most notable years in Canada.Berton (1997), p. 364. It was the centenary of Canadian Confederation and celebrations were held throughout the nation. The most prominent event was Expo 67 in Montreal, the most su ...
*
67 X
*
A Centennial Song
*
Alfa Romeo Montreal, a concept car first shown during Expo 67 and later mass-produced
*
Canadian National Exhibition
The Canadian National Exhibition (CNE), also known as The Exhibition or The Ex, is an annual fair that takes place at Exhibition Place in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, on the third Friday of August leading up to and including Labour Day (Canada), ...
and the
Pacific National Exhibition
The Pacific National Exhibition (PNE) is a nonprofit organization that operates an annual 15-day summer fair, 12-day winter fair, a seasonal amusement park, and indoor arenas in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The PNE fair is held at Hastings ...
, held annually
*
Centennial Voyageur Canoe Pageant
*
Expo 67 pavilions
The Expo 67 World's Fair, International and Universal Exposition featured 90 pavilions representing Man and His World, on a theme derived from :fr:Terre des hommes, Terre des Hommes, written by the famous French pilot Antoine de Saint-Exupéry ...
*
Expo 86
The 1986 World Exposition on Transportation and Communication, or simply Expo 86, was a world's fair held in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada from May 2 until October 13, 1986. The fair, the theme of which was "Transportation and Communicatio ...
, held in Vancouver in 1986
*
Expo Express
The Expo Express was a rapid transit system consisting of five stations and a route, running from Cité du Havre to La Ronde (amusement park), La Ronde in Montreal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Built for the 1967 World's Fair (Expo 67) at a cost ...
*
Minirail
*
Line 4 Yellow (Montreal Metro)
**
ÃŽle Sainte-Helene Station
*
List of world's fairs
This is a chronological list of international or colonial world's fairs.
1790s
* 1791 – Prague, Bohemia – first industrial exhibition on the occasion of the coronation of Leopold II, Holy Roman Emperor, Leopold II as king of Bohemia, took p ...
*
Ontario Place
Ontario Place was an entertainment venue, event venue, and park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The venue is located on three artificial landscaped islands just off-shore in Lake Ontario, south of Exhibition Place, and southwest of Downtown Toron ...
, a Toronto waterfront park created in the 1970s in a style similar to Expo 67
*
Expo 17
References
Notes
Citations
Bibliography
*
*
*
External links
Official website of the BIEExpo 67 – A Virtual Experience ''
Library and Archives Canada
Library and Archives Canada (LAC; ) is the federal institution tasked with acquiring, preserving, and providing accessibility to the documentary heritage of Canada. The national archive and library is the 16th largest library in the world. T ...
''
Expo67.museum – Digitized historical collection of documents on Expo 67.50 Years of Expo 67 ''Library and Archives Canada''
Impressions of Expo 67 ''
National Film Board of Canada
The National Film Board of Canada (NFB; ) is a Canadian public film and digital media producer and distributor. An agency of the Government of Canada, the NFB produces and distributes documentary films, animation, web documentaries, and altern ...
''
Expo 67 in Montreal's extensive photo collection about the fairInteractive mapsExpo 67 Official Guide
Expo 67 at ExpoMuseum
* Th
Expo 67 miscellany collection at
Hagley Museum and Library
The Hagley Museum and Library is a nonprofit educational institution in unincorporated New Castle County, Delaware, near Wilmington. Covering more than along the banks of the Brandywine Creek, the museum and grounds include the first du Po ...
includes a variety of publications and ephemera associated with the 1967 International and Universal Exposition.
CFPL-TV, Footage of St. Thomas student trip to Expo 67 Archives of Ontario YouTube Channel
"Expo 67", part of ''Centennial Ontario'', online exhibiton Archives of Ontario website
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Expo 67 Collectionat
McGill Library's Rare Books and Special Collections includes publications, ephemera, unpublished documents, and many artifacts from Expo 67.
1967 Montréal (BIE World Expo)– approximately 390 links
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1967 festivals
1967 in Canada
1967 in Montreal
Events of National Historic Significance (Canada)
History of Canada (1960–1981)
History of Montreal
Montreal Expos