Filmmaker, author celebrate 50th anniversary of Seattle World’s Fair at Bothell event
Published 10:14 am Wednesday, August 22, 2012
It was all about Seattle at an event in Bothell on Aug. 17, when filmmaker John Gordon Hill showed his documentary, “When Seattle Invented the Future,” in the Bistro at Chateau Bothell Landing. The free event commemorated the 50th anniversary of the World’s Fair.
Following the screening, Knute Berger, well-known area political commentator, longtime political commentator on public radio and in print, as well as editor-at-large for Seattle Magazine, regaled those in attendance with stories, fun facts and tidbits about the history of the World’s Fair and its iconic landmark, The Space Needle. Berger spent a year writing his new book: “Space Needle: Spirit of Seattle” from a sky-high office with views from the Needle’s observation deck.
A highlight was a visit from Renton resident and Valley Medical Center board commissioner Don Jacobson, who announced he led the union of plasterers who finished construction on the top of the needle in time for opening in April 1962.
“I was on the cover of LIFE magazine,” Jacobson recalled with a smile, “Though my crew and I look like ants in the aerial photo.”
The Century 21 World’s Fair in 1962 gave birth to modern Seattle and surrounding region, according to Berger and Hill. The technology and bio-tech industries that thrive throughout the region owe their success to the infrastructure and faith in the future instilled by the only World’s Fair to turn a profit during the latter half of the 20th century, they said.
