Negotiations were underway to make the Expo 74 gondola ride a permanent feature of the city, but there was still a lot of uncertainty about how this would be implemented.
The chairman of the Spokane Park Board said the city’s parks department does not have sufficient budget to purchase or operate the gondola.
“There is a clear consensus that the cable car should be preserved, but someone must be found to buy or lease it,” said the chairman.
The attraction was owned by the local Riblet Aerial Tramway Co., and operated by the Washington Water Power Co. during the Expo. A Washington Water Power spokesman said “the long lines proved its popularity.”
In other Expo news, ballerina Margot Fonteyn starred in a New London Ballet performance at the Opera House. The Spokesman-Review critic wrote that it was a “rare privilege to see the greatest ballerina of our time,” but noted that at 55, she was not exactly at her best.
From 100 years ago: In Spokane, an “Old Faithful”-like experience occurred when a truck knocked down a fire hydrant at the corner of Sprague Avenue and Sherman Street, sending a thirty-foot-high fountain into the air.
Before officials could shut off the geyser, a five-block section was flooded.
The truck driver escaped uninjured, but had to endure “a nasty shower.”
