Originally published 12/9/2020
The Klondike Gold Rush of 1897 offered Seattle a unique opportunity for growth and visibility on the World stage. Folks heading north to make their fortune in the Alaskan goldfields bought their supplies and boarded ships in downtown Seattle which had eight years prior been totally reduced to ashes by the Great Fire of 1889. Successful prospectors returning by ship disembarked at those same docks and left much of their new wealth with local businesses.
Twelve years later, in 1909, Seattle hosted Washington’s
first World’s Fair in order to promote growth by highlighting the connections
between the city and local resources, riches to the north and the entire
Pacific Rim. It was called the Alaska,
Yukon, Pacific Exposition or AYPE. The
event ran from June 1st through October 15th.
During that 4 ½ month period special events were staged to draw fair-goers from far and wide, in part, by highlighting other cities and states. On “Kansas Day,” Kansans were issued sunflower badges and treated to a giant picnic. “Oregon Day” featured a performance by the “Portland Festival Chorus” a promenade and a dance. On “Bellingham Day” souvenir postcards, fresh Whatcom County cherries and sample bags of rich soil the cherries had grown in were given out.
Even Tacoma, Seattle’s bitter rival, was afforded their special day. Having beaten Seattle out, 36 years prior, by being selected as the northern terminus for the Northern Pacific Railroad left no love lost between Seattle’s leaders and the inhabitants of the hardscrabble town located south on Commencement Bay. Indeed, Seattle was always out to show Tacoma who was really better but Tacomans have never been known for backing down from a scrap. The AYPE seemed a perfect venue for a token show of graciousness and also a way of showing those Pierce County bumpkins what a truly superior city could do.
And so it was on a warm July day in 1909, dressed in your finest you had traveled 30 miles north from your hometown to make your way, along with 15,000 of your friends and neighbors, to the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition to celebrate “Tacoma Day”. As evening approached you made your way to Pay Streak where amusements, rides, food, drink, souvenirs and exhibits competed for your attention and your pocket book. It was shoulder-to-shoulder as exposition attendees jostled up and down the planked walkway astounded by all of the sights, sounds and smells. You were on your way to the dock to watch the reenactment of the Battle of Manila and secure a good spot on the railing to watch the fireworks show that would follow. So much to see.
Finally, you arrived on the docks at the foot of Pay Streak and as you approached the water of what would one day be named Portage Bay the confusion of the crowd faded a bit. The aromas of exotic foods and sweets were replaced by the scent of fresh-cut wood, ropes and lake water warming with Summer’s longer periods of daylight. Replicas of the Mayflower and naval ships were tied offshore and looking beyond it all, on the south side of the bay you saw a sight that swelled you with civic pride.
Tacoma’s rival, Seattle might have the AYPE but every fair
visitor looking across the bay to where generations of Montlake kids would
someday play baseball, football, attend Scout meetings, learn to dance, steal their
first kiss, walk on logs, spear carp and frolic in the Swamp, would see the 20
foot high letters on the longest electrified shoreline sign in the world that proclaimed:
‘YOU’LL LIKE TACOMA”
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