Tagged: Nik Wallenda

Just days after announcing plans for a walk over the Grand Canyon, daredevil Nik Wallenda returned to Niagara Falls Friday.

Daredevil Nik Wallenda is back in the City of Niagara Falls for the first time since his high-wire stunt over the Horseshoe Falls two months ago.

The purpose of the visit is to scout out possible locations for a family entertainment center.  While the attraction could end up on either side of the river, Wallenda says his heart is on the U.S. side.  

Highwire walker Nik Wallenda is apparently thumbing his nose at the City of Niagara Falls.

New York State legislation that paved the way for Wallenda's stunt last month required the City be reimbursed for providing public safety.

But Niagara Falls Mayor Paul Dyster said Wallenda still owes taxpayers more than $25,000 for overtime costs.

"A total cost for us.  This is just public safety overtime stemming from the event itself," said Mayor Dyster.

Wallenda told the Buffalo News "it's just disgusting and sad [that Niagara Falls is asking for money.]"

High-wire daredevil Nik Wallenda has raised the money he was seeking to help cover last month's successful walk over Niagara Falls. 

Wallenda had issue his financial request on the fundraising Website indiegogo.com.  A check of Wallenda's request page indicates that  he raisers  $50,421 by the end of the June 30 deadline he set for himself.  The amount raised surpasses his $50,000 goal. 

The crowds have gone home, but tourism officials on both sides of the border are looking at ways to capitalize on the successful walk of Nik Wallenda.

With television viewers as far away as China watching Wallenda's performance live, there's a lot more awareness of the cataract and the views.

Now, the push is to take advantage of the event, with planners in New York and Ontario preparing the message spin.

Niagara Falls, New York Mayor Paul Dyster says people still come because of the Marilyn Monroe film "Niagara," and that was released in 1953.

Nik Wallenda completed his high-wire walk over Niagara Falls in a little more than 25 minutes Friday night.

With an estimated crowd of 120,000 expected tonight in Niagara Falls, officials are preparing for heavy traffic on area roads and bridges.

Interest in Nik Wallenda's walk across the Niagara Gorge has prompted border officials to ask for the public's help. 

Heavy vehicle and pedestrian on the Rainbow Bridge will keep customs workers occupied, but the process can be expedited if travelers have proper documentation.

Approved paperwork, like a  passport, passport card or enhanced driver's license, must be shown before access into the United States will be granted.

Niagara Falls, N.Y. sees Nik Wallenda’s Friday night wirewalk as its best chance in decades to revive tourism and spark economic development.

But measuring Wallenda’s long-term impact may be tough - assuming there’s an impact at all.

“Part of our mystique”

The Daredevil Museum in Niagara Falls, N.Y. is a shrine to those who have tried to conquer the natural wonder.

It may be an unattractive truth, but the chance of injury, or even death, draws interest in events like  Nik Wallenda's walk across Niagara Falls.

That's according to Professor David Schmid of the University at Buffalo, who told WBFO and AM970's Jim Ranney that he was disappointed, like many others, that Wallenda agreed to wear a safety harness during the Friday night walk.

Nonetheless, Schmid says he'll be watching like millions of others.

Listen to more of that conversation here.

Niagara Falls has long been a magnet for daredevils, but strict laws have kept them away for more than a century. That's expected to change Friday, when circus performer Nik Wallenda will walk a two-inch-thick wire above the giant waterfall. It's an exception officials hope will rescue tourism — and the city's economy.

http://www.npr.org/2012/06/09/154634952/saving-niagra-falls-one-tightrope-step-at-a-time

Officials on both sides of the border continue preparing for Nik Wallenda's high wire walk over the Horseshoe Falls this Friday night.

According to Wallenda's estimates,  120,000 people could turn out for the daredevil's walk across the Horeshoe Falls. 

Most of the crowd though will be on the Canadian side, which has the most room,  and offers the best sight lines of the wire which will be 180-feet above the lower Niagara River. 

Parks Police Major David Page says 25,000 to 30,000 people are expected in and around Goat Island and the City of Niagara Falls. 

This is a big business week in Niagara Falls, Ontario.

Anthony Annunziata, Marketing Vice President, says his customers will have the best view of the walk  from the Marriott Gateway at the Falls and the Marriott Fallsview hotels.

That's more than 800 rooms looking out at the Falls and the walk.

Perhaps the biggest event on the hotel calendar in the Ontario Cataract City is New Year's Eve. Annunziata believes this will be as big and and the hotel room rates will be high.

Law enforcement and emergency service agencies in Ontario have signed-off on an "integrated public safety plan" for Nik Wallenda's wire walk June 15.

Niagara Parks Police Chief Douglas Kane said the crowd for the rare event over the Horseshoe Falls will likely be "wall-to-wall."