"Remembering Expo '74," a podcast that shares the memories of people who worked or attended the World’s Fair in Spokane 50 years ago, released its first episode on March 28. 

Sheila Fritts, marketing director at Fairwood Retirement Village, and Deena Budano, marketing assistant at Fairwood, have taken it upon themselves to organize the firsthand accounts of Expo '74 from residents of the North Side complex and others. 

“I work primarily with people who are over 80 years old,” Fritts says. “I suddenly realized the treasure of memories that was available to me, and I started asking people, ‘Were you at Expo?’” 

Each episode—two have been released as of April 2—features a pre-recorded, unedited interview with someone who shares their experiences from Expo '74. They discuss the music and entertainment, how downtown Spokane has changed since before the World’s Fair, its environmental theme, and the roles they served at the fair. 

Both Fritts and Budano were under the age of 2 during Expo ‘74, leaving them with a feeling of having missed out, they say. 

“I didn’t get to enjoy (Expo ‘74), but I really love the history and learning about it,” Budano says. 

The podcast features or will feature Fairwood residents, people from Corbin Senior Activity Center, and anyone with an Expo '74 story to tell, Fritts says. 

One such interviewee is Tom Lookabill, a former actor who now works for Windermere Real Estate, in Spokane. 

“Expo opened up a whole world of opportunities for me,” says Lookabill. “Expo '74 kind of launched my career.” 

Lookabill, who isn’t a resident at Fairwood, attended East Valley High School before going to Eastern Washington University, where he majored in radio and television.  

While at EWU, Lookabill and the other radio and television students, along with drama majors, were asked to operate the lights and sound systems for the many performances in downtown Spokane from May to November that year. 

“We got to work with literally a world of entertainment,” Lookabill says. 

It was at Expo ‘74 that Lookabill had the opportunity to audition for Up with People, a touring song and dance group. 

Lookabill was accepted into Up with People and toured with the group in 1975. 

After the tour, Lookabill moved to Los Angeles, where he made a living as an actor, appearing in TV shows like Romance Theatre and Trauma Center. 

While Expo ‘74 shaped his early career, Lookabill says it also "put Spokane on the map.” 

“It was all railroad tracks before,” Lookabill says. “It just became beautiful. It was really something the city needed.” 

Mike Albert, an 82-year-old Fairwood resident who Fritts says she still needs to interview, also had a role at Expo ‘74. 

After growing up in Montana, graduating from University of Montana and serving in Vietnam, Arnold eventually wound up in Spokane in January of 1974, taking a job at a fish hatchery. 

In that role, Arnold was tasked with releasing nearly 2,000 rainbow trout in front of President Richard Nixon, who delivered the opening address for Expo ‘74, just months before he resigned following the Watergate scandal. 

Arnold was nervous about the job he was asked to do. 

“That’s going to be a lot of responsibility,” says Arnold. “Fish do get sick once in a while. That’s the last thing I need to do is go down there and drop a bunch of dead fish right in front of President Nixon.” 

According to a University of Washington Center for the Study of the Pacific Northwest article, Arnold had released 1,974 fish into the river to demonstrate that the Spokane River had been cleaned up enough to support fish life—fitting with the environmental theme for that World’s Fair. 

Behind the inspiration for the podcast, aside from celebrating and remembering Expo '74, is the desire to preserve the memories of seniors before they are forgotten due to Alzheimer’s or other forms of memory loss. 

“Recording these memories has brought it to the forefront for us how quickly they can be gone,” Fritts says. 

The average age of Fairwood residents is 88, she says. 

Recording the stories also preserves people’s voices, something that Fritts says is nice for their family members after they’ve passed. 

“When I was listening to one of our residents who’s passed away, whose story we recorded, my first thought was I can’t wait to share this with her family, because they’ll just want to hear her voice,” she says. 

Fritts says she isn’t sure if many Fairwood residents will want to attend any of the various anniversary celebration events that are planned for downtown Spokane this year, but she might look into finding ways to celebrate at Fairwood, which is located just west of Mead High School. 

Last month, Fairwood sponsored an Expo ‘74 Rewind event at Corbin Senior Community Center, where she and Budano were able to record some more interviews. 

“One of our hopes for the Remembering Expo ‘74 podcast is to bring the memories to the people who maybe want to remember and maybe aren’t going to be able to attend (the anniversary),” Fritts says. 

Remembering Expo ‘74 is available on Apple, Spotify, and other podcast platforms, Fritts says.