Fair aimed to entertain
“It has long been a tradition that the best performers on the international and national scenes appear at world fairs. Expo ’74 is no exception,” The Spokesman-Review reported in a special edition on May 5, 1974.
It wasn’t an exaggeration – Expo drew top talent in pop, rock, country, jazz and classical music, plus comedians, performing troupes, dancers and athletes.
The performances took place at the brand-new Opera House, now the INB Performing Arts Center, and the old Spokane Coliseum, as well as throughout the Expo grounds.
Here are the highlights of the entertainment schedule; not listed are various national dance, opera, music and theatrical companies:
May
1: Grand opening featuring the Spokane Symphony, ballet dancer Edward Villella and opera singer Roberta Peters
3: Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra with Zubin Mehta conducting
6: Pointer Sisters
8: Marcel Marceau
10: Roger Williams
15: Tom T. Hall
17: Gordon Lightfoot
26: Bob Hope
28: Isaac Stern
30: Emmett Kelly Jr. Circus
June
6: Philadelphia Orchestra with Eugene Ormandy conducting
6: Lawrence Welk
7: Bill Cosby
8: Joffrey City Centre Ballet
11: Seals & Crofts
19: Patrice Munsel
20: Grand Funk Railroad
24: Royal Shakespeare Theatre with Sir Michael Redgrave and Dame Peggy Ashcroft
27: Modern Jazz Quartet
29: Harry Belafonte
July
1: Champion gymnasts of the Soviet Union, including Olga Korbut
3: Liberace
8: Seattle Opera Association
11: Victor Borge
13: Glenn Yarbrough
14: The Carpenters
16: Chicago
18: Mormon Tabernacle Choir
26: Jack Benny
August
5: Bachman-Turner Overdrive
10: Walt Wagner
11: Charlie Pride
19: Christopher Parkening
19: Jim Nabors
20: Buck Owens
26: John Denver
26: Margot Fonteyn and the London Ballet
September
1: Merle Haggard
4: Itzhak Perlman
10: Kreskin
24: Helen Reddy
27: Porter Wagoner and Dolly Parton
October
3: Warren Miller ski lecture and movie
11: Guy Lombardo and the Royal Canadians
20: Don Juan in Hell starring Myrna Loy
25: Van Cliburn
November
2: Ella Fitzgerald
–Compiled by Addy Hatch