As part of Seattle’s 1962 World’s Fair, Seattle’s Civic Auditorium was renovated into a new opera house. During the fair the venue hosted a range of performances, including Verdi’s opera Aida, put on by the Seattle Symphony Opera Committee. This small silk bag was created by Seattle printing firm Lowman & Hanford and held a bottle of perfume. On one side is a souvenir program for the 1962 production of Aida, done in the same style as a 1887 opera program for Gounod’s Faust. On the other side is a reproduction of the original Faust program. That production was one of the earliest known operas to be performed in Seattle, given at the newly built Frye Opera House. The organizers were likely trying to draw a parallel with the past, implying that this new opera house and production were the start of a new era for the arts in Seattle, just as the Frye Opera House had been in 1887. In 1962 there were two competing opera groups in Seattle: Western Opera Company, which had been founded that same year; and the Seattle Opera Association, which was a committee of the Seattle Symphony Orchestra. In 1963 they merged to form Seattle Opera.