SPOKANE, WASH- Expo 74 took place, a few years back, but the remnants of the Worlds Fair reshaped the City of Spokane.
One of those remnants, the famous entry point butterflies. After going down in a wind storm, one will officially returning to the skyline of Spokane.
“It’s a unique piece of artwork that doesn’t exist anywhere else in the world,” Jennifer Leinberger said, “It’s uniquely Spokane.”
Leinberger has been on the forefront of ensuring that the expo butterflies keep their wings for years, when the park was re-developed she was instrumental in generating support to keep the butterflies, the original redevelopment plan did not call for them.
“It symbolizes Expo and butterflies in general symbolize reinvention and hope,” Leinberger said, “Spokane needs to keep its symbol of reinvention and hope flying.”
For those of you who are new to our area – prior to Riverfront Park’s existence, it was a train yard. The city was reinvented to make way for the Worlds Fair.
“Historically this was the lilac butterfly each butterfly in the park has a different color as we finding the markers,” Leinberger said.
According to Leinberger they were five butterflies and she was told one came down on the first day of Expo throughout the years they fell into disrepair and came down, one by one.
“This was the last one left standing,” Leinberger said.
She also added that the city had another butterfly in pieces that was previously in what she described as the “Expo Graveyard,” according to the city, that butterfly is not in complete and damaged.
For Leinberger, when this one went down, it was hard.
“Oh, it was just the worst feeling in my gut,” Leinberger said.
After going through some re-engineering, the butterfly will take off again as a symbol of the event that changed the course of Downtown Spokane forever.
“Everything from Expo was really built for a short period of time we are so lucky to have so many pieces of Expo that have survived 50 years,” Fianna Dickson from the city said, “We are happy that this will be another piece that returns to the park.”
The city says the modifications made will ensure that the butterfly can stand strong, even building feel safe so that if there is a failure, it won’t fall to the ground.
“It’s shaped a little differently to better withstand the wind,” Dickson said, “We are using bolts instead of welds, because it was an original weld from 74 that failed.”
For Leinberger, it gives her pride to know a symbol of her childhood will return for the next generation of the citizens of Spokane.
“I always remember visiting this park with my mom and sister, it’s just a comforting piece of Spokane that you see—just like when you see skyline with the clock tower or pavilion, you know exactly what that means to you as a Spokanite and for me part of that was the butterflies,” Leinberger said.
