Seattle World’s Fair, New Highway Gave L-C Valley A Tourist Boom

The World’s Fair ended yesterday after a six-month stand at Seattle. What effect did it have on the Lewiston-Clarkston economy?

A Lewiston Morning Tribune survey of Twin City merchants brought agreement that:

1. The region this year had its biggest influx of tourists in memory, and many — but by no means all — were attracted here by the fair.

2. The tourist boom was felt primarily by motel and hotel owners, restaurant keepers and service station operators along the main highways of the two cities, but increased patronage also trickled through to grocery stores and other businesses.

Returned This Way

3. Far more travelers visited Lewiston and Clarkston on the way home from the fair than on the way there.

Most merchants agreed that the tourist business was unusually good during the summer months, but some attributed this as much to the opening of the Lewis & Clark Highway this season as to the fair.

Several said the new highway and the fair worked together to bring more visitors to the area. Said a Lewiston gasoline distributor:

“We had never really had a tourist business before. This year we had one for the first lime.” The fair attracted vast numbers of tourists to the Northwest, he said, and the new highway made it possible for them to drive by way of Lewiston and Clarkston.

Service stations, motels and restaurants got most of the tourist business, the gasoline distributor added, “but any time there are extra people in town it’s going to mean more business for everyone.”

Others Saw Effects

A grocery store owner on Main Street in Lewiston said tourist patronage was heavier than normal in July and August. He attributed this to fair-goers. A department store manager at Lewiston said he noticed a small amount of increased patronage from tourists this year.

A substantial increase in Lewiston-Clarkston retail business volume during the summer months could be attributed at least in part to added patronage of valley business places by tourists.

Check clearings by Lewiston and Clarkston banks, an index of retail business, totaled $22,825,775.69 in July and August, an increase of $1,898,925.72 over July-August, 1961, and $2,921,571.59 over, the same period in 1960.

Check clearings in July, August and September totaled $34,224,789.15. This was an increase of $1,430,380.13 over the same period in 1961 and $3,400,459.81 over the same period in 1960.

A Lewiston businessman who operates a hotel and restaurant said his hotel business spurted in July and his restaurant trade in August.

Slackened In September

Most merchants said tourist business slackened appreciably in early September when schools resumed, even though the fair continued for another six weeks.

Most motel operators said most of the fair goers who dropped in on them were on the way home from Seattle. Fair visitors told one operator they had been advised at Missoula to skip Lewiston because of rough conditions on the Montana section of the Lewis & Clark Highway.

A Lewiston service station attendant said he noticed a definite increase in tourists, but it was difficult to measure. He said there would have been more if travelers had, been more aware of the now Missoula-Lewiston highway.

Said a Lewiston restaurant operator: “We had an awful lot of tourists this year. Many of them were on their way to the fair.”

Said a Clarkston motel operator: “We had our best season in four years. The fair visitors helped fill the gaps for us on weekends when the traveling salesmen are home.”

Said a Lewiston motel operator: “We turned away more than usual this year. I’d say about 90 per cent of our World’s Fair tourists were on their way home. Many of them took Highway 30 to get there.”

A few motel operators said they noticed no increase in patronage over last year.

This story was published in the Oct. 22, 1962, edition of the Lewiston Tribune.