Expo '86 put Vancouver on the map 40 years ago and the city's still benefiting

Believe it or not, next week marks the 40th anniversary of Expo 86, an event that put Vancouver on the map in more ways than one, and the city is still benefiting from it in many ways.

Expo ’86 descended on Vancouver on May 2, 1986 and ran until Oct. 13 of the same year. The event was celebrating the 100th anniversary of the city, and 54 different nations came to celebrate the event, which also welcomed over 22 million visitors in six months.

Thanks to the City of Vancouver archives, we can take a look back at the event that brought the world to the city and see how much Vancouver has changed, and also, how in many ways it has not.

As Vancouver welcomes visitors over the next couple of months for another world event in the FIFA World Cup, let’s go back in time and see what all the fuss was about with Expo ’86.

Grab a map while you’re at it.

What Expo ’86 was and why it came to Vancouver

Expo ’86 celebrated 100 years of Vancouver as the city was incorporated in April 1886.

The theme of the event was Transportation and Communication: World in Motion — World in Touch.

The official logo of the event coincided with the theme, as the three interlocking circles represented modes of transportation, land, air and water.

According to records, initially, the city wanted to spend $80 million on a transportation expo. However, thanks to the Vancouver Exposition Commissioner-General Patrick Reid, it grew into a full-blown world expo.

The transportation-themed expo featured a monorail, SkyTrain, HSST, water taxis and a Gondola.

Eventually, the Expo 86 Corporation was created as a nonprofit to handle the planning and operation of the fair, to which Jim Pattison was appointed CEO and eventually president. Records suggest that the total cost to put the event on hovered around $800 million, including a deficit of $311 million after an initial budget of just $78 million comparatively.

It was only the second time that a Canadian city had hosted the event after Montréal in 1967, and it was the last world’s fair to be held in North America.

You can still find advertisements for the event online. This one calls it an incredible vacation for the whole family:

Some of the things we got for Expo ’86 that we didn’t keep

Like most world fairs or expo-style events, lots of temporary attractions are instituted. Things like Ferris wheels, pop-up restaurants, and other short-term attractions are generally taken down once the event is over.

Expo ’86 had lots of attractions like that.

Two of those attractions that are still talked about a lot are the Gondola systems. Expo ’86 had two of them. Air Canada sponsored one, and the other was sponsored by Canadian Pacific Airlines, which Air Canada eventually absorbed.

Over the five-month span of Expo ’86, almost ten million passengers used the Gondola.

The monorail and HSST were other features that we lost once the event was over.

Of course, we can’t forget the McBarge.

The McBarge was initially located in Vancouver’s False Creek. It was a McDonald’s Restaurant built on a 187-foot-long barge specifically built for Expo ’86.

Serving as a restaurant in 1986 was the barge’s only claim to fame. A potential resurrection was planned for the 2020s, but it never actually came to light. The most recent news about the iconic barge was that it was sinking into the Fraser River.

Ways Vancouver still benefits from Expo ’86

In many ways, Vancouver was transformed by Expo ’86, and it was transformed in ways we’re still benefiting from today.

Not the least of which is the SkyTrain system. It also changed the neighbourhood around False Creek, brought us Science World, and put Canada Place on the map as a major cruise terminal and convention centre that hosts some of the biggest events in the world today.

Canada Place was built for the Canada Pavilion.

While BC Place has seen many improvements since Expo ’86, the stadium was built in part for the fair.

Another structure that still remains is the Plaza of Nations.

According to its official website, “The Plaza of Nations served as a central hub for cultural exchange, entertainment, and community engagement during the event. Featuring an innovative open-air design with a striking glass canopy, it provided a versatile space for concerts, performances, and gatherings.”

Vancouver and the surrounding area also saw major improvements to its infrastructure, including the Cambie Street Bridge and the Coquihalla Highway.

One of the biggest ways Vancouver benefited is the way the city came to be recognized because of the event. Vancouver was suddenly on the map in a major way. Some celebrities still talk about it to this day. Last summer, Conan O’Brien and fellow comedy icon Greg Daniels were on O’Brien’s podcast when the topic of Expo ’86 came up.

Unfortunately, for much of the episode, the pair referred to it as Expo ’87.

“We managed to convince ourselves that if we missed Expo 87 in Vancouver, we would regret it for the rest of our lives,” Daniels said, with O’Brien adding that he stands by that today.

Some things never change

Even in the 80s, Vancouver had many low-income residents living in the Downtown Eastside, and not unlike how the 2010 Winter Olympics came to Vancouver and displaced many, Expo ’86 also saw over a thousand low-income folks evicted from their SROs.

Mike Harcourt, who was Vancouver’s mayor at the time, had hoped that the Province could do something to protect those folks, but the hopes were dashed.

One of the people who was impacted, who later died due to the events surrounding Expo ’86, was Olaf Solheim.

“At the time, B.C.’s tenancy rules didn’t apply to those living in SROs, many of whom were informed of their fate only verbally. Homelessness spiked, while one man in his late eighties named Olaf Solheim, who had managed to secure new housing, died weeks later,” the Knowledge Network said in an Expo ’86 lookback.

The Knowledge Network stated that his death “and the experience of other displaced people garnered international media attention.”

The Knowledge Network also quotes Vancouver’s Chief Medical Health Officer, Dr. John Blatherwick, who said, “He’d been moved from where he was to a place he didn’t want to be, and he simply lost his will to live, and he died.”

While we benefited in many ways from Expo ’86, looking back is sometimes a sobering reminder of how much things have changed, and in some ways, how much things have not.

Were you alive for Expo ’86? Tell us your thoughts and memories.