Expo ’74 transformed what was once an industrial wasteland into Riverfront Park. Its iconic U.S. Pavilion has become a symbol of both the park and Spokane.
Organizing a World’s Fair
Once a center of Native fishing, Spokane Falls powered Spokane’s early industry. By the 1950s, the area had become highly polluted and tangled with railroad traffic.
To help revitalize downtown, a group of business and property owners formed Spokane Unlimited in 1959. Inspired by Seattle’s 1962 Century 21 Exposition, they thought that a world’s fair might be exactly what Spokane needed. A fair would secure funding for cleaning up the area around the falls and create a new park.
Competing against the world’s largest cities—Spokane would become the smallest community to host a world’s fair—the proposal was a long shot. But in November 1971, the Bureau of International Exposition, the organization that oversees world’s fairs, accepted Spokane’s proposal.
Set to open in May 1974, Spokane got straight to work planning and designing the fair. To celebrate both the growing environmental movement and the cleanup of Spokane Falls, organizers chose the theme “Celebrating Today’s Fresh New Environment.”
Designing the U.S. Pavilion
As the host country, officials wanted the U.S. Pavilion to be something special. Original plans called for a courtyard with a man-made forest and waterfall. This proved too expensive. A new design was called for.
What resulted became the fair’s most famous building. The U.S. Pavilion’s most striking feature was its tent-shaped roof. Tilted at an 8.5-degree angle, 4.6 miles of steel cable “ropes” led to a steel ring supported by a 14-story mast.
A two-acre white vinyl tarp was placed over this structure. This temporary roof sheltered visitors from the sun while allowing in light. Wide archways and the 50-foot opening in the roof allowed for natural cooling on hot summer days.
In total, the U.S. Pavilion cost $11.5 million to construct, mainly from federal funds. Unlike most other buildings at Expo ’74, the pavilion was built to be used after the fair. But how it would be used had yet to be decided.
U.S. Pavilion Had Creative Exhibits
Expo ’74 opened on May 4, to large crowds. The U.S. Pavilion quickly proved one of the most popular, seeing over five million visitors. In keeping with the fair’s environmental focus, the pavilion’s theme was “Man and Nature: One and Indivisible.”
A sweeping entrance offered passers-by and A & W Sky Float Riders glimpses of exhibits in the 17,000 square foot courtyard, “The Environmental Consumer Area.” Exhibits were centered around the themes of water, energy, solid waste, air, pesticides, and wood products.
These exhibits were creative and eye-catching. To promote recycling, “Trash Mountain” was made of old recyclable household appliances. A fountain made of bathtubs, sinks, and plumbing fixtures urged water conservation. Three giant plastic insects hung overhead to promote natural alternatives to pesticides.
Cartoonish vehicles on the “Car Carousel” promoted the creation of both more fuel-efficient cars and improved mass transit systems. Chiming every 10 seconds for every American birth, the “Population Clock” was hooked to a conveyor belt that displayed the massive amounts of natural resources an average American would use over a lifetime.
Inside the Environmental Action Center were displays promoting the government’s evolving role in environmental protection and how ordinary citizens could get involved.
In two-foot-tall letters on a wall of the courtyard, above a group of totem poles, was a quote attributed to Chief Seattle: “The earth does not belong to man, man belongs to the earth.”
IMAX Film Wows
This quote also inspired the title of the U.S. Pavilion’s main attraction, the IMAX film “Man Belongs to the Earth.” Viewers packed the outdoor Environmental Theater to watch the 22-minute film on what was then the largest movie screen in the world, 90 by 65 feet.
The film, now available online, was produced by Paramount and featured Chief Dan George, a Tsleil-Waututh Nation leader from British Columbia. The actor shot to fame at age 70 for his role in the 1970 western film “Little Big Man.”
“Man Belongs to the Earth” shows scenes of natural beauty alongside images of environmental destruction. “We’re the problem,” narrator James Whitmore says, “but if we put our minds to it, we can be the solution. We’ve just got to decide the kind of world we really want.”
The opening scene of flying over the Grand Canyon was so realistic that air sickness bags were passed out.
US Pavilion Becomes Spokane Icon
After the fair closed in November 1974, the U.S. Pavilion was given to the city of Spokane. As the rest of the fair was being dismantled, the city debated what to do with the pavilion. Ideas like a planetarium, futurist learning center, and even a children’s zoo were tossed about.
The biggest issue, however, was the vinyl roof. Snow and wind took their toll. The tarp was finally removed in 1979, a year after Riverfront Park opened.
The pavilion became an event center, with winter ice skating. The Environmental Action Center was turned into an arcade.
By the 2000s, the park was in need of repair. In 2014, Spokane voters approved a $64 million park renovation bond. This included fixing up the pavilion. In March 2025, the park commission approved a ten-year naming partnership with Gesa Credit Union, renaming the building the Gesa Pavilion.
Today, the Gesa Pavilion provides a flexible community space for concerts, athletic events and more, bringing people to Riverfront Park—the park that the fair built.
