Stayed tuned for Episode 6, coming next week!

For 10,000 years, the Spokane River has been the lifeblood of the Spokane Tribe. In episode 6, we use Expo ‘74 as a lens to better understand the Tribe’s profound relationship with and commitment to the river, showcasing the unwavering resilience that has sustained their culture for generations.

“If you take nothing else away from today, please understand that the Spokane tribe is a River People. 60 to 65% of our diet, our staff of life, was brought to us from the creator through the river system. And so that's who we were.”

- Warren Seyler, Spokane Tribal citizen and historian

Expo ‘74 was a pioneering World’s Fair due in large part to its groundbreaking environmental theme, which channeled the rapidly growing eco-consciousness of the late 1960’s and early ‘70’s. But beyond bold messaging, how did this theme materialize in 1974? Where did the Fair's environmental commitments hit their mark, and in what areas did reality fail to match the rhetoric? And what did this mean for Spokane?

“It's the first time a World's Fair has an environmental theme. It's the first time a World's Fair is not focused on something that's architectural. The architectural theme of the fair is the river, is cleanup, is urban renewal, is kind of restoring back, and there are critiques to that.”

- Anna Harbine, archivist at The Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture

1974 proved a watershed year for America - the Vietnam War was on its dying breath, the Watergate scandal rocked the nation's faith in government, the Civil Rights Movement raged on, and the Cold War persisted. Episode four zooms out from Spokane to examine how geopolitical dynamics, pivotal national events, and cultural shifts shaped this global Fair.

“Expo 74 opens at this weird time. This is at a period of just rapid and drastic social change. I mean, the seventies are kind of this, to co-opt the Beatles, Helter Skelter period. There's all kinds of things happening.”

- Anna Harbine, archivist at The Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture