50 years ago in Expo history: Signs of the fair’s tourism appeal abounded in currency exchange, out-of-state plates and (supposed) eavesdropping

Expo ’74’s foreign currency exchange booth was exchanging about $5,000 per day.

The transactions provided a clue about where the foreign visitors were coming from. So far, the booth had handled these currencies: Australian dollars, English pounds, French francs, German marks, Italian lira, Japanese yen, Mexican pesos, Swiss francs, Netherlands guilders, New Zealand dollars, Hong Kong dollars, Singapore dollars, Portuguese escudos and Canadian dollars.

One Spokane fairgoer had figured out another unofficial way to tell where the visitors were coming from. He was keeping track of the license plates in the parking lots.

He reported seeing plates from 28 of the 50 states. Some off the more distant ones included Georgia, Florida, Hawaii, Vermont, South Carolina and Louisiana.

In other Expo news, one fairgoer allegedly heard a Californian ask the following question: “How did you make the river for the fair?”

Also drawing laughs was the tongue-in-cheek report that the city of Seattle was planning to make a gift to Spokane in commemoration of Seattle Day at Expo ’74.

“Rumors floating around that the gift is either the Space Needle or Puget Sound have neither been confirmed or denied,” deadpanned The Spokesman-Review.

Also on this day

(From onthisday.com)

1930: Amy Johnson becomes first woman to fly solo from United Kingdom to Australia.

1940: Adolf Hitler issues a halt orde to stop German armed divisions, allowing British and French armies to evacuate through Calais and Dunkirk.