Expo 67 opening week

The official opening ceremonies for the 1967 International and Universal Exposition or Expo 67 occurred on Thursday, April 27 at the Place des Nations pavilion.

The Expo flame, which was lit two years earlier as part of the Centennial celebrations, was carried in by a troop of 12 cadets from the Collège militaire royal de Saint-Jean, metaphorically representing each province and territory in Canada at that time.

The torch bearer was Joseph Philip Lonuel, who proceeded to pass on the torch up the hierarchy of governance: to the Commissioner General of the Fair, Pierre Dupuy; then to the Mayor of Montreal, Jean Drapeau; then to the Premier of Quebec, Daniel Johnson, Sr.; then finally to the Prime Minister of Canada, Lester B. Pearson who was the last in the chain.

[3] The Golden Centennaires, the forerunners of the Canadian Forces Snowbirds, closed the opening ceremonies with a fly-by over the Expo site and Montreal harbour.

"[9]Carter was able to buy ticket 00001 for a seven-day Expo passport and get the assistant area manager of the main gate, Richard J. Kaufman to write "This gentleman was waiting at Place d'Accueil this morning at 9:30 for the general public opening.

Carter received a gold watch from Expo 67's director of operations Philippe de Gaspé Beaubien, who was very impressed with his achievement.

[10] Attendance figures were significantly more than originally anticipated by the Stamford Research Institute, an American firm hired in 1963 by the Expo Corporation to be its foreign-based advisors.

[13] Like the computer analysis before it, the report was ignored by the Expo corporation, which then promptly fired the institute and did their own attendance forecasts in 1964 that were also low, but closer to reality.