Vancouver Fair Closes Tonight; Drew 22 Million

Expo ‘86, the most popular world’s fair in 16 years, closes tonight, and organizers predicted today that its turnstiles will have clicked 22 million times before the gates slam shut.

The $1-billion extravaganza, which opened 5 1/2 months ago, will end with a gala celebration and fireworks at Vancouver’s 60,000-seat domed stadium.

Expo’s 173-acre waterfront site in downtown Vancouver has been swamped with record crowds for the last two weeks as camera-laden tourists gathered for one last look at the displays of 54 nations.

On Sunday, 341,806 swarmed in; 256,535 visits were recorded Saturday and 235,190 on Friday.

Organizers, who originally anticipated that about 13.77 million people would visit the fair, said they expect total attendance to top 22 million.

According to an early projection, the fair was expected to lose more than $200 million. Despite the higher attendance, Expo President Jim Pattison said the fair will still lose about that amount.

Lottery Money

The government of British Columbia, the official sponsor of the fair, contributed $600 million for the event. It has said any losses will be recovered through lotteries, which normally fund charities.

Japan’s Osaka ’70 was the last fair to outdraw Expo, but Osaka was a more ambitious world-class fair, unlike Expo’s specialized status as a transportation and communications fair.

The British Columbia government justified the huge expense of the fair by touting it as a springboard out of the recession that has dogged the resource-based province for five years.

But the fair threatens to have the opposite effect.

In August, a peak Expo month, British Columbia’s unemployment rate rose to 12.3%. And the jobless rate is expected to get worse when the 5,000 employees of Expo enter the job market.

The Expo site is slated for demolition to make way for offices and condominiums.