Minnesota is among the finalists to host the 2027 World Expo, with the final vote coming Wednesday in Paris.
John Stanoch represents the committee looking to bring the Expo to Minnesota and he tells WCCO that they're working hard to bring home the bid.
"We're meeting with representatives in the state department, the federal government, to go through the final vote counts, we're pulling out all the stops," says Stanoch. "We have a team in Washington D.C. and here in Paris doing all they can to round up the votes."
The proposed theme for Minnesota's bid for the World Specialized Expo is "Healthy People, Healthy Planet." It's estimated the Expo could attract 14 million visitors, while creating 30,000 jobs.
"We're anticipating there won't be a first-ballot victory by any of the countries so this is also a little bit of ranked-choice voting where we're lining up second support from countries that are not supporting us on the first ballot," Stanoch explains. "I think most people think this will go down to the finals, and that after the first three ballots countries will drop."
Minnesota is the United States representative and the first U.S. bid to be a finalist since 1980.
There are four other cities bidding to host the event: Thailand (Phuket), Serbia (for Belgrade), Spain (for Malaga), and Argentina (for San Carlos de Bariloche).
Expos are global events that explore a chosen theme through engaging and immersive discoveries. Among the different categories of Expos, Specialised Expos are designed to respond to a precise challenge facing humanity and may take place in the interval between two World Expos. Specialised Expos are limited in terms of duration - lasting up to three months.
If Minnesota is chosen, the host space would be in Bloomington near the Mall of America, and the state would be entirely responsible for building it.
More information on the proposed site and other details here.