Expo '86
| EXPO Vancouver 1986 | |
|---|---|
The Expo 86 logo
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| Overview | |
| BIE-class | Specialized exposition |
| Category | International specialized exposition |
| Name | 1986 World Exposition on Transportation and Communication |
| Motto | "World in Motion - World in Touch" |
| Building | BC Place Stadium, Canada Place, Expo Centre (now Telus World of Science), SkyTrain |
| Area | 70 hectares (170 acres) |
| Visitors | 22,111,578 |
| Participant(s) | |
| Countries | 54 |
| Location | |
| Country | Canada |
| City | Vancouver |
| Venue | BC Place Stadium, Canada Place, Plaza of Nations, Expo Centre |
| Coordinates | 49°17′19.1″N 123°6′40″W / 49.288639°N 123.11111°W |
| Timeline | |
| Bidding | 1979 |
| Awarded | November 1980 |
| Opening | May 2, 1986 |
| Closure | October 13, 1986 |
| Specialized expositions | |
| Previous | Expo '85 in Tsukuba |
| Next | World Expo 88 in Brisbane |
| Universal expositions | |
| Previous | Expo '70 in Osaka |
| Next | Seville Expo '92 in Seville |
| Horticultural expositions | |
| Previous | International Garden Festival in Liverpool |
| Next | Expo '90 in Osaka |
The 1986 World Exposition on Transportation and Communication, or simply Expo 86, was a World's Fair held in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada from Friday, May 2 until Monday, October 13, 1986. The fair, the theme of which was "Transportation and Communication: World in Motion - World in Touch", coincided with Vancouver's centennial and was held on the north shore of False Creek. It was the second time that Canada held a World's Fair, the first being Expo 67 in Montreal (during the Canadian Centennial). It was also the third World's Fair to be held in the Pacific Northwest in the previous 24 years as of 1986 and as of 2016 it still stands as the last World's Fair to be held in North America.
The logo of three interlocking rings to make the 86 in the logo stood for the three main modes of transportation; land, air, and water.
Up until the late 1970s, the 173 acre (0.7 km2) site on False Creek, where Expo was staged, was a former CPR rail yard and an industrial wasteland. In 1978, Sam Bawlf (then BC Minister of Recreation and Conservation) proposed an exposition to celebrate Vancouver's centennial year (1986). The proposal was submitted in June 1979, for a fair that was to be called "Transpo 86." In 1980, the British Columbia Legislature passed the Transpo 86 Corporation Act, paving the way for the fair. The transportation theme reflected the city's role in connecting Canada by rail, its status as a major port and transportation hub, and the role of transportation in communications.
The initial idea was to have “...a modest $80 million transportation exposition that would mark Vancouver's 100th anniversary.” It soon blossomed into a full exposition thanks to the help of the Vancouver Exposition Commissioner-General at that time, Patrick Reid. The theme of Transportation and Communication led to the conglomeration of many different exhibits of transportation networks. This included a monorail that glided over the crowds that included a trip to every zone. Other ground transports included the "SkyTrain", a High Speed Surface Transport from Japan, and a French “People Mover.” The transport of the sky was the Gondola, a boxcar hovering high in the air. The water taxis moved along four different ports on the site.
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