World Expo in Spartanburg? County Council weighs in on idea. 'Why not make a run at it?'

Imagine Spartanburg County hosting a World's Fair.

Farfetched? A Boiling Springs man doesn't think so.

Al Schneider, a truck driver who moved to Boiling Springs this past summer from Rochester, N.Y., to be closer to his daughter and grandchild, shared his idea at a recent meeting of Spartanburg County Council.

"This region here is beautiful, and people are swarming here," Schneider said. "You've got lakes, foothills of the Smoky Mountains, the interstate crossing here, and the traffic."

Schneider said he saw how the 1996 Olympics propelled Atlanta into the international sphere, and that a months-long World's Fair/Expo in the Upstate could do the same for Spartanburg and Greenville.

So far, the responses have been lukewarm, but not dismissive.

"It is indeed a grand idea," said Spartanburg County Councilman Justin McCorkle. "As for feasibility and whether or not it would be a good thing for Spartanburg overall, I quite honestly don't know enough about the event and the proposal to give a definite answer.

"It's certainly intriguing and it makes me smile that a resident of any place would have that much confidence in where they call home," McCorkle added.

County Councilman David Britt said he is open to the idea, noting that 11 million people from around the world came to the 1982 World's Fair in Knoxville, Tenn.

"Why not make a run at it," Britt said. "Knoxville sure did and we have a lot more to show the world than Knoxville did at the time they decided to go for it.

'We have 217 international companies in Spartanburg County, and they would help us bring international, as well as national attention, to showcase our growth and incredible achievements made possible by the residents of Spartanburg County," Britt added.

Schneider said his research has shown that hosting a World Expo takes years of planning, starting with the formation of a local committee to submit a bid to the Bureau International des Expositions in Paris.

The Bureau is a body of 182 member states that decides where future world expos are held.

The first World Expo called the Great Exhibition — took place in London in 1851. The most recent World Expo took place in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates, between October 2021 and March 2022.

The next World Expo will take place in Osaka, Kansai, Japan between April 13 and October 13, 2025, under the theme “Designing Future Society for Our Lives.”

This past year, Saudi Arabia was selected as host country of World Expo 2030, which will be organized in Riyadh under the theme “The Era of Change: Together for a Foresighted Tomorrow."

Schneider suggested Spartanburg submit a bid for the 2035 or 2040 World Expo based on the theme of the future of transportation.

"The Southeast is becoming a transportation hub," he said. "We've got BMW, a global company, right here. Volvo is building a plant in Charleston."

He added that Spartanburg and Greenville are right in the path of a proposed high-speed rail line connecting Charlotte and Atlanta.

"We're right here in the high-speed rail alley, and in the middle of it," he said.

Schneider said he's written to the U.S. State Department, which coordinates bids for a World Expo. The last event in the U.S. was Expo 1984 New Orleans.

In 2017, the U.S. ran a bid for Minnesota to host Expo 2023, under the theme of “Healthy People, Healthy Planet.” But the U.S. lost to Argentina.

In 2023, the U.S. ran another campaign to bid for Minnesota to host Expo 2027, but lost out to Serbia.

Dean Hybl, executive director of Ten at the Top, said hosting a World's Fair/Expo "may be logistically and financially beyond the scope of what is possible, but I don’t see the concept of showcasing the many amazing things happening here in the Upstate to the world as being far-fetched.

"With the Upstate clearly positioned as one of the country’s leading manufacturing corridors, especially in the mobility field, there is quite a story to tell," Hybl said.

He said planning for such an event would need to be regional, and not just left to one city or county.

"I cannot see any one community within the Upstate having the necessary infrastructure (physical and administrative) or finances to handle such a large undertaking alone," Hybl said. "If such an undertaking is realistic, it would have to be a partnership between multiple cities, counties, businesses, economic development organizations and others."

Fountain Inn Mayor GP McLeer, director of Upstate Mobility Alliance, said he would support bringing a world expo to the Upstate.

"I believe that anything that highlights the innovation happening right here in the Upstate, be it in automotive, aerospace, green space, or in our vibrant downtowns is helpful to elevate the value of our region," he said.

Bob Montgomery covers Spartanburg County politics and growth & development. Reach him via email at bob.montgomery@shj.com.

This article originally appeared on Herald-Journal: World Expo in Spartanburg? Not farfetched, Boiling Springs man says