Expo 86 Facts

International Participants:

 

Antigua & Barbuda	Fiji	Montsarrat	Spain
Australia	France	Naru	Sri Lanka
Barbados	Federal Republic of Germany	Norway	St. Kits/Nevis, St. Luca, St. Vincent & the Grenadines
Belgium	Grenada	Organization of Eastern Caribbean States	Switzerland
Britain	Hong Kong	Pakistan	Thailand
Brunei Darussalam	Hungary	Papua New Guinea	Tonga
Canada	Indonesia	Peru	Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
Peoples republic of China	Italy	Philippines	United Nations
Cook Islands	Ivory Coast (Cote d'Ivorie)	Romania	United States of America
Costa Rica	Japan	Kingdom of Saudi Arabia	Vanuatu
Cuba	Kenya	Senegal	Western Samoa
Czechoslovakia	Republic of Korea	Singapore	Yugoslavia
The Commonwealth of Dominica	Malaysia	Solomon Islands
European Community	Mexico	South Pacific Pavilion

Provinces, Territories and States:

 

Alberta	Northwest Territories	Oregon	Saskatchewan
British Columbia	Nova Scotia	Prince Edward Island	Washington State
California	Ontario	Quebec	Yukon Territory

Corporate Exhibits:

 

Air Canada	BCTV	Canadian Pacific	Pavilion of Promise
American Express	Canadian National	General Motors of Canada	Telecom Canada

Not every Corporation involved with Expo 86 hosted a pavilion.  Kodak and Xerox, for example, sponsored entertainment facilities.  I.B.M. sponsored computer generated information kiosks throughout the fair.
Theme Exhibits/Pavilions:

 

Great Hall of Ramses II	Special Images Holography	Expo Centre
The Roundhouse	Million dollar Gold Coin	Folklife Festival

Entertainment:

 

Kodak Pacific Bowl

Xerox International Theatre

Labatt's Expo Theatre

Rides:

For fear that the local summer fair (Pacific National Exhibition) would suffer from Expo, the Expo organizers decided not to host a Midway.  Instead,  they sporadically placed a few traditional rides introduced at World's fairs which included:

 

1907 Philadelphia Toboggan Co. Carousel	Children's Playground	Minolta Space Tower
Caraboo Log Chute	Looping Starship	Scream Machine (rollercoaster)

So how does Vancouver Rate?

Expo 86 is considered a success story.   Despite a deficit of $311, 000, 000 (CAD) the British Columbian tax payer would have been stuck with a much larger bill if the attendance had not almost doubled from the original projected number of 13.7 million.  The legacy structures themselves are worth well more than the deficit.

To date, Expo 86 can boast the second highest attendance of any world's fair within the last 30 years and the highest attendance record for a Specialized/Category 2 fair since New York's fair in 1939.

At 70 hectares (173 acres) Expo 86 was part of a movement to bring the more economical Specialized fairs to a higher standard.  The focus was shifted away from bombastic architecture such as towers and monuments toward more conservative structures that could be reused in the future.

Then there is the human factor.  Expo 86 is considered the pivotal point in time where the locals began to see Vancouver as a "world class" city.   Many people believe that the World's Fair helped put Vancouver on the map and civic pride hit a new high with the new-found recognition from around the world.

World's Fair Categories

UE = Universal Exposition -- usually the largest fairs in terms of acreage and International participants.  But most historical fairs before the 1930s are generally considered Universal Expositions regardless of the size.  The earliest Universal Expositions were housed in one large building.  Since the turn of the 20th century a UE is most often recognized by participating countries designing and building their own pavilions.  Also, a UE usually runs for a minimum 5 to six months.  The UE category was re-established in the early 1970s.
SE = Specialized Exposition -- Smaller in acreage than a UE.  International participants are usually not requested to design their own pavilion, but rather, are given space in existing structures provided by the host country.
GE = General Exposition --  Term given to all recognized fairs between the 30s and the early 70s.  The General Exposition could be either a category 1 (UA) or 2 (SA).  The term General Exposition was put in place to distinguish the difference between a World's Fair and a Horticultural or Agricultural fair.
Cat.  Category (1 and 2) -- The terms category 1 and category 2 can be interchanged with UA and SA, respectively.
NR = Not Recognized by the Bureau of International Exhibitions (BIE).  In order to host a World's Fair, the fair in question must follow a set of basic rules.  The host country must be a member of the BIE, go through a bidding process similar to the Olympic Games, and win that bid for the particular year in order to be recognized.
A and B Fairs are terms used primarily by the media.  The BIE does not use A or B to describe a World's Fair category.

Note that the number of International participants does not always equal the total number of pavilions.  Some fairs, such as Seattle 62, housed many countries in a few buildings.  Hannover 2000 did the same with nations that wished to participate but could not or did not want to go through the expense of designing and building a detached structure.

Additionally, corporate pavilions have become increasingly popular over the years.  In some fairs, corporate pavilions outnumbered National pavilions, but corporate pavilions are not counted in most official records.  The number of International participants tabulated in the table above only include nations.  It does not include corporate, religious or theme pavilions.