Then and Now: U.S. Paviilion

Spokane’s Expo ’74 continues to recede in the rearview mirror, but the silhouette of the former United States Pavilion reminds us of that one glorious summer of exhibitions, concerts, rides, famous faces and international visitors with its spider web of cables rising above Riverfront Park.

President Richard Nixon, Washington Gov. Dan Evans and Congressman Tom Foley opened the fair with speeches and 50,000 helium balloons on May 4.

Jack Benny, Buck Owens and Bob Hope performed. When the curtain came down Nov. 3, the transformation from world’s fair to Riverfront Park began immediately. Rides disappeared, stages were dismantled and equipment sold off to help pay off debts incurred by the rapid build-up to the fair.

The covering of the U.S. Pavilion deteriorated quickly and within five years the giant tent, which shredded under winter snow loads, was removed. The original Imax theater was moved from the main area of the pavilion to an enclosed space on one end in 1978, and that was torn down after voters approved a major renovation of Riverfront Park in 2014. The Imax was torn down in 2018 and the pavilion was reimagined, reopening in 2019 as an outdoor concert venue with LED lighting and features to improve the view of Spokane Falls.