By the time Expo 67 opened in Montreal on April 28, 1967, the World’s Fair had become something larger than a showcase of industrial achievement. It was now a meeting place for architecture, national identity, mass tourism, design, entertainment, technology, and international culture.
Expo 67 embraced all of those ideas at once.
Held during Canada’s centennial year, the exhibition welcomed more than 50 million visits before closing on October 29. Sixty-two participants took part under the theme “Man and His World,” transforming islands in the St. Lawrence River into an extraordinary collection of experimental buildings, national pavilions, transportation systems, public art, restaurants, performances, and attractions.
For collectors, Expo 67 produced an equally international world in miniature. Passports, pavilion stamps, postcards, buttons, drinking glasses, ashtrays, spoons, pennants, records, guidebooks, tickets, and countless novelty souvenirs allowed visitors to carry pieces of the exposition home.
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