![]() With a cast of 333, the opera played on June 7, 9, and 11, 1962, to sellout crowds. Preparations for the fair included converting the old Civic Auditorium building into an Opera House, where the Seattle Symphony staged its first-ever opera production, Giuseppe Verdi's Aida. Museums from around the world loaned masterpieces and Pacific Northwest artists were featured, as was Northwest Coast Indian art. The fair's futuristic theme, with its heavy bent on science, still showcased the arts. It also gave Seattleites a tantalizing view of the city's potential. It not only introduced Seattle to the world, it left it with a legacy of new buildings. The Century 21 World's Fair was a game changer for the city. These individuals and groups came together to help bring the World's Fair to Seattle in 1962. About the same time, other visionaries and civic boosters, including a group that would become Allied Arts, were making plans for cultural and civic improvements. Preparations for the fair started in the 1950s with its initial promotion by Edward "Eddie" Carlson (1911-1990). ![]() Seattle's cultural scene changed significantly following the 1962 Century 21 World's Fair. PONCHO was a major influence in establishing and continuing a thriving arts scene in the region, and the organization can count as a legacy the building of the charitable auction industry, of which Seattle has been a world leader. Marking its 50th birthday in February of 2013, PONCHO announced it would end its daily operations in April and become a legacy fund within the Seattle Foundation. Since its formation, the nonprofit organization has provided in excess of $35 million in support of more than 200 arts organizations, the largest sums over the years being given to the Seattle Symphony, Seattle Art Museum, Pacific Northwest Ballet, Seattle Opera, Seattle Repertory Theatre, A Contemporary Theatre (ACT), Seattle Children's Theatre, and Cornish College of the Arts. Collaborative, creative, visionary, and endlessly hard-working, PONCHO continued to surpass its yearly goals, along the way adding a no-tie auction, an international wine auction, and an art auction in order to raise more money. So successful was PONCHO's initial fundraiser - a black-tie gala auction - that the volunteer group continued its annual event to support cultural organizations in the state of Washington. ![]() Seattle-based PONCHO (Patrons of Northwest Civic, Cultural, and Charitable Organizations) was formed in 1963 by a small group of civic leaders to help the Seattle Symphony pay off a large debt resulting from its 1962 World's Fair production of Giuseppe Verdi's Aida.
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