39 | Expo67: The year the whole world came to Montreal

It was Canada's 100th birthday year.

In January, Timothy Leary told the world's youth that it was time to "tune in, turn on, and drop out." Across the Atlantic in Swinging London, the Beatles released Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. In San Francisco, people from all across the nation came to the Haight Ashbury district to wear some flowers in their hair and celebrate the Summer of Love. Many would head down the coast to attend the Monterey International Pop Festival where artists like Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jefferson Airplane, and The Who first broke big. Meanwhile, in Los Angeles, The Doors had already broken on through to whatever was waiting on the other side. And on a more somber note, US helicopter gunships, Phantom jets, and B-52 bombers rained death and destruction on the innocent people of Vietnam.

Up north in Montreal, the same week that Sgt. Pepper's acid-seasoned soundscape began enlightening the airwaves, Expo67 opened its doors to the world. By the time it closed them in October,  more than 50 million people, including numerous international dignitaries and celebrities, had visited the 65 national pavilions that dotted the Expo67 site which, against all odds, had been built on man-made islands huddled in the St. Lawrence River along the south coast of the island of Montreal.

So put your feet up (unless you're driving), and take a trip back to the astonishing cultural event that put Canada on the map, a magical time when the whole world came to Montreal.

Music and image credits:
Cheerleader image from the Library and Archives of Canada & Expo67     
The Centennial Song  was written by Bobby Gimby and performed by the Young Canada Singers
Semi-Retired “flipz” theme by tubebackr from SoundCloud
Music promoted by free-stock-music.com
Perforated steel by YuriyC from VectorStock