Up until the late 1970s, the 173 acres (70 ha) site on False Creek, where Expo was staged, was a former CPR rail yard and an industrial wasteland.

In 1978, Sam Bawlf (then BC Minister of Recreation and Conservation) proposed an exposition to celebrate Vancouver's centennial year (1986).

However, once it became clear that the event would be a world exposition, the name was officially changed to "Expo 86" by Ambassador and Commissioner General Patrick Reid in October 1981, and, by the end of the year, Expo 86 Corporation was established as a nonprofit agency responsible in the planning and operation of the fair.

The chief architect selected was Bruno Freschi, the Creative Director was Ron Woodall, and Bob Smith was responsible for the production and design.

[7] The Patricia Hotel was among those establishments that evicted most or all of its residents, including a Norwegian man named Olaf Solheim.

Vancouver's chief medical health officer at the time, John Batherwick, publicly asserted that the sudden eviction could be the cause of Solheim's death: "He'd been moved from where he was to a place he didn't want to be, and he simply lost his will to live and he died.

This world's fair was categorized as a "Class II", or "specialized exhibition," reflecting its specific emphases on transportation and communications.

The "Festival of Independent Recording Artists", a concert series promoting local bands, was cancelled on the first night after a performance by Slow devolved into a riot.

54 official participating nations: Antigua and Barbuda,  Australia, Barbados,  Belgium,  Brunei, Canada,  China,  Cook Islands,  Côte d'Ivoire,  Costa Rica,  Cuba,  Czechoslovakia, Dominica, Fiji,  France, Germany,  Grenada, Hungary, Indonesia,  Italy, Japan, Kenya, Malaysia,  Mexico,  Montserrat, Nauru,  Norway, Pakistan,  Papua New Guinea,  Peru,  Philippines, Romania, Saint Kitts and Nevis,  Saint Lucia,  Saint Vincent and the Grenadines,  Saudi Arabia,  Senegal,  Singapore,  Solomon Islands,  South Korea,  Spain,  Sri Lanka,   Switzerland, Thailand,  Tonga, United Kingdom,  United States,  U.S.S.R. Vanuatu, Western Samoa, and  Yugoslavia.

have also seen the fair as being at least partially responsible for the re-election of the Social Credit party for its final term as a provincial government.

The western third of the site is presently owned by the real estate investment firm Concord Pacific, which has its primary shareholder the Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-Shing.

according to Kim O'Leary[25] Some of the lasting contributions of Expo 86 to the city of Vancouver include: After the fair closed, many of the attractions were auctioned off to buyers.

Celebrating 25 years since its opening of Expo 86, Vancouver is Awesome and Yelp teamed up and threw a party at Science World on May 6, 2011.

[28] In 1988, the site was sold to the Concord Pacific development corporation for a fraction of the original cost, a move that proved to be extremely controversial.

[citation needed] While opening the world's fair, Diana, Princess of Wales briefly fainted onto her then-husband in a crowded hall in the California Pavilion.

The revolving table was shut down for some time after the accident but was put back in service with a number of new safety measures.