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 The "Moonbeams and Time Machines" exhibit was the primary innovation of the 1974 exhibition. The space-themed pavilion featured: the Apollo 7 command module; the lunar module, Skylab; the shuttle orbiter; space photography; the Peace Rock; and exhibits on space food. One of the finest displays of space hardware ever assembled, "Moonbeams and Time Machines" was put together by Spar Aerospace, RCA Canada, Telesat and the Department of Communications. Jim Irwin, the pilot on Apollo 15, a space shuttle that landed on the moon, and the American ambassador, William Porter, opened the pavilion together. Colonel Irwin gave a spirited address later that day at the first interfaith church service, which attracted almost 10,000 people. |
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Another interfaith church service was held in 1975, this time to raise support for blood donor clinics. A Cyclo-thon, concluding at Lansdowne Park, was also held to raise money for the Kidney Foundation of Canada, and a live telecast from the Civic Centre was held by the Ottawa section of the Jerry Lewis Telethon for Muscular Distrophy. Through the remarkable success of the Cyclo-Thon, more than a quarter of a million dollars was raised for the Kidney Foundation. A new pavilion called Adventure Canada was also opened in 1975. The children's exhibit featured some of the most progressive ideas in interactive entertainment for kids. The lifestyle pavilion of 1976 featured an ultra-modern kitchen equipped with a variety of futuristic hardware and, an obvious innovation in its time, a talking robot named Ralph. This display highlighted the technology that started to become accessible to Canadians at the exhibition through such developments as that of the personal computer in the 1980s. After the exhibition's economic boom during the 80s, many vendors and exhibitors threatened to "Ex-it," as an Ottawa Citizen article termed it, because of the unsuccessful fair of 1991. Attendance and revenue had been slowly decreasing, and the Ex of '91 was rumored to be the worst year of the fair. Throughout the early 1990s, the Ex remained on shaky financial grounds, but several successful exhibits did emerge during this time. The Discovery Pavilion in 1994 covered the entire history of communication, from the earliest scratchings on cave walls to the invention of the phone and the Information Highway.  An educational display of plastic fetuses was banned from the exhibition of 1995. The CCEA decided that the "very graphic" models of fetus growth was not appropriate at the Ex. Many people opposed the ban of the display, claiming that it was anatomically and biologically correct, and, since it was meant for educational purposes only, it had every right to be on display at the fair. Another controversy arose during the 1995 exhibition with Member of Parliament Brian Tobin's display of a captured Spanish fishing net. The net was seized from a Spanish fishing boat during the so-called "Turbot War," and was being displayed to illustrate the illegal nets being used by the Spanish fleet when fishing in large bodies of water. Prime Minister Jean Chrétien disapproved of the display of Tobin's "trophy" and asked that it be removed before further political turmoil was caused. Tobin apologized for the "fish net fiasco" and took the net down. In recent years, exhibitors have come to consider the Ex as more of a business trade show than an opportunity to create informative displays. Business displays have increased by more than 40% since 1992; these figures do suggest the advances in subject matter that these exhibits are beginning to show. |
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