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HISTORY *B3K

SEATTLE PUBLIC LIBRARY

CITY DOC

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CENTURY 21 ONCE IN A LIFETIME a city has a World's Fair. Once in a lifetime all responsible elements of the city join hands to exceed all previous efforts in giving their community a concerted economic boost. This opportunity presented itself in 1958 when, after united effort by public spirited citizens, the City of Seattle, State oÂŁ Washington and Federal governments committed themselves to a Seattle World's Fair, and a non-profit Fair Corporation was established.

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As a major City department and as the local electric utility, your City Light was called upon from the beginning to share in the formation of a successful exposition.

Its primary task was obvious—to provide the electric power required by the Fair. But as with any community-minded citizen, City Light felt that its obligation also included genuine participation in and active support of the Fair.

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One of the first needs of the Fair was to secure as exhibitors a number of prestige firms whose participation would encourage others to follow. City Light conferred with the various electric utilities in the state, and together as the Electric Utilities of Washington, Inc., they became the first major industry to sign up as an exhibitor.

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The exhibit, located on a 7500-square-foot area just west of the Space Needle, publicizes the state's principal natural resource, its abundant supply of water power and the resultant low-cost electric power.

P A V I L I O N OF ELECTRIC POWER Sponsored by the Electric Utilities of Washington State

The 40-foot high d a m and splashing w a t e r . . . the g i a n t r e l i e f m a p of Washington showing the state's dams, transmission lines and principal cities; and the other animated displays have p r o v e n one of the m o r e a t t r a c t i v e exhibits at the Fair.

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PROVIDING ELECTRIC POWER

for the Fair was no easy task

and presented its share of "beyond-the-call-of-duty" situations. As usual, the job required City Light to provide the required amount of power, when it was needed, where it was needed. What was unusual was that no one knew the amount, timing and location of the power needs.

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Concessionaires and exhibitors were yet to be signed up and those that were signed up had not finalized their plans to the point where they knew their power requirements.

The indefinite situation continued nearly to opening day.

Adding to the complexity of the problem was the fact that the area had previously been supplied by an overhead distribution system which was being converted to underground. Converting from an overhead to an underground distribution system without interfering with the urgent construction program presented a tremendous coordination problem. Power shut-downs to move circuits from the overhead to the underground system were kept at a minimum and scheduled for times when the contractors were best able to handle the planned outages.

A portion of the cost of conversion was applied to the rate charged to the Fair customers; the remainder was allocated as a permanent investment in the underground distribution system of the city.

ONE LINE DIAGRAM OF UNDERGROUND PRIMARY FEEDERS SERVING THE WORLD'S FAIR AREA

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A THIRD CHAPTER was added to City Light's participation in "Century 21" with the authorization by the Mayor and City Council of a permanent civic center illuminated fountain to be financed jointly by the Light and Water Departments and the general fund. To assure an outstanding fountain, City officials approved a world-wide contest for the best design. The winning design by two Japanese architects was chosen from 259 entries from all over the world.

The fountain consists of a 30-foot-diameter "sunflower" center containing 117 jet nozzles (but with room for 348 more) located in a 185-foot-diameter basin covered with white crushed stone.

This fountain with its moving water, its changing patterns, its lighting effects and its synchronized sound, symbolizes three of this city's and this regions principal assets — its abundance of pure water, its abundance of low-cost hydroelectric power and the imagination of its people.

In the same manner that City Light has participated in and supported Century 21 — the Fair — so does it anticipate and stand ready to serve the community in Century 21. This attitude is probably best described by the following advertisement used recently: POWER FOR THE FAIR . . . AND THE FUTURE A blaze of light towering 60 stories above the city, a baby's bottle gently warming. These are the things City Light means to Seattle. It takes power to light a World's Fair . . . more than 140,000 kilowatt-hours a day. Enough power to run your all-electric home for 10 years. Enough power to warm a lot of baby bottles. The World's Fair is important to Seattle . . . so's your baby's bottle. At City Light we think of both.

INTERNATIONAL FOUNTAIN Sculptured water forms rise to 100 feet in graceful, moving designs . . . A tape-operated electronic console controls the o p e r a t i o n of the streams of w a t e r , the music, and the lights to produce the desired changing patterns of form, of color, and of light.

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