The Globe and Mail

It's been 41 years since a dump truck plunked a pile of dirt into the middle of St. Lawrence River and created the artificial islands that would become Montreal's Expo 67. The world's fair is a distant dream -- but the pile of dirt grew into a permanent legacy. In a city that suffers from public embarrassments, such as the Olympic Stadium, the former site of the 1967 international exhibition is widely considered one of Montreal's unheralded successes -- long after the fanciful pavilions have been dismantled. Last year, 10 million visitors made their way to the former Expo site, and for wildly differing purposes: a public beach, the Montreal Casino, the La Ronde amusement park, a Formula 1 racetrack and 15 kilometres of bicycle paths.