Wallenda upbeat after latest meeting with Niagara Parks Commission; decision on wirewalk request expected Feb. 15
From Bullet News Niagara:
Wirewalker Nik Wallenda headed back home to Florida Thursday night feeling good about his meeting with Niagara Parks Commission officials.
Of course, Nik Wallenda is pretty much always feeling good. Through this long process of trying to get permission to walk on a tightrope across the Niagara Gorge near the Horseshoe Falls, Wallenda has maintained almost unflappable composure, resolve and optimism – the kind of characteristics one might expect from someone who makes his living on a three-inch steel cable.
“It doesn’t do any good to be negative. I’ve said all along this is my dream and I’m just going to keep on going for it. People can say no, but it just makes me want to work harder.”
Related posts:
- Wallenda getting second chance to woo Niagara Parks Commission From the Niagara Falls Review: There are people on both...
- Wallenda to meet with Niagara Parks Commission officials on Thursday From the Niagara Falls Review: Nik Wallenda, the American aerialist...
- Wallenda meets with Canadians, NPC slams wirewalk as ‘not appropriate’ From the Niagara Falls Review (includes article, video, and pictures):...
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Wallenda to meet with Niagara Parks Commission officials on Thursday
From the Niagara Falls Review:
Nik Wallenda, the American aerialist who wants to walk across the Niagara Gorge on a tightrope, will meet with officials from the Niagara Parks Commission this week.
NPC chairwoman Janice Thomson told The Review on Monday that a meeting has been scheduled for Thursday between Wallenda and NPC senior staff.
The meeting will not be open to the public.
“It is an internal staff meeting,” Thomson said. “I will be there and our general manager and her senior managers who will discuss this project with him (Wallenda).”
Thomson expects the meeting will last at least two hours.
The Canadian Press also had a similar article called Daredevil to pitch Niagara Falls tightrope walk again
Related posts:
- Wallenda getting second chance to woo Niagara Parks Commission From the Niagara Falls Review: There are people on both...
- Wallenda won’t give up on falls tightrope dream From the Niagara Falls Review: Both Nik Wallenda and the...
- Wallenda to meet with park, city officials about performance over gorge From the Niagara Gazette: Nik Wallenda is scheduled to meet...
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EXCLUSIVE: Wallenda wants to establish permanent entertainment home in Niagara Falls
From Bullet News Niagara:
Daredevil Nik Wallenda wants to establish a permanent theatre in Niagara Falls where he and members of his family can put on tightrope or aerial shows and other forms of circus entertainment.
“I’ve always said I want to make Niagara Falls my second home,” the Florida-based Wallenda told Bullet News on Monday. “Why wouldn’t I? Look at the crowds that come through Niagara Falls. I wouldn’t be a very good businessman if I didn’t consider something like that.”
Wallenda, 32, is part of the famed circus family the Flying Wallendas.
“It’s always been a big dream to have a Wallenda family show that runs at least all summer. Why not have a Nik Wallenda theatre with a show three-six months of the year? This has been the ultimate goal all along. This is definitely not a one-off thing.”
Related posts:
- Wallenda makes high-wire walk case before Canada’s Niagara Parks panel From the Buffalo News: After a lifetime of staring down...
- More on approval by NY for Wallenda to talk over Falls Yesterday I posted a few links to articles about Nik...
- Wallenda ready to walk across brink of falls From the Niagara Falls Review: The organizers of Nik Wallenda’s...
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The Niagara daredevil I knew didn’t quit – and it killed him
From Buffalo Business First:
On July 3, 1984, a Czech emigre by the name of Karel Soucek rode in a nine-foot barrel over the cataracts at Niagara Falls, and lived.
A few months later, on Jan. 19, 1985, a stunt he was performing in the Houston Astrodome malfunctioned and within a day he was dead, the victim of massive injuries.
I got to thinking about Soucek after reading that Nik Wallenda is still trying to get official permission to walk on a high wire above Niagara Falls. These fellows always come to Niagara Falls, don’t they?
Related posts:
- Daredevil still dreams of tightrope walk across Niagara Falls From CTV.ca: Canadian officials may have turned him down, but...
- Daredevil Nik Wallenda discusses proposed Falls stunt From the Niagara Gazette: Nik Wallenda’s motto in life is...
- Wallenda makes high-wire walk case before Canada’s Niagara Parks panel From the Buffalo News: After a lifetime of staring down...
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Wallenda getting second chance to woo Niagara Parks Commission
From the Niagara Falls Review:
There are people on both sides of the Nik Wallenda fence, but everyone now seems to agree that it’s an international walk or no walk at all.
Wallenda, the American aerialist who has proposed walking across the Niagara Gorge on a tightrope, is now waiting for a second meeting with the Niagara Parks Commission in hopes of getting the commission to reverse its earlier decision not to allow the walk.
After meeting with Ontario Tourism Minister Michael Chan Friday, Wallenda said he was encouraged to hear the minister’s interest in the proposal, which would see Wallenda walk across the Horseshoe falls this spring or summer.
Wallenda was denied permission by the NPC last month, and was hoping Chan would overrule that decision. While the minister didn’t reverse the NPC’s call, he did suggest a second meeting between the aerialist and the commission.
Chairwoman Janice Thomson said Monday she would sit down with Wallenda for a longer meeting than the formal 10-minute forum he was given on Nov. 16.
Related posts:
- Wallenda taking his case to tourism minister From the Niagara Falls Review: The Niagara Parks Commission slammed...
- Wallenda won’t give up on falls tightrope dream From the Niagara Falls Review: Both Nik Wallenda and the...
- Wallenda makes high-wire walk case before Canada’s Niagara Parks panel From the Buffalo News: After a lifetime of staring down...
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Wallenda needs Canadian approval or Falls walk proposal is dead: New York State Parks
So as the details of the Nik Wallenda/Michael Chan meeting were coming out, there were also reports that if this is going to happen at all, it has to happen as a walk between the two countries. Apparently New York State officials have said a walk solely on the US side is not an option. It would cost too much money. This doesn’t really make sense to me. One of the big things that Mr. Wallenda was promoting to the Niagara Parks was that it wouldn’t cost them anything, as he would cover the costs for everything. If he would do that here, wouldn’t he do that in the US?
From the Niagara Falls Review:
It’s America to Canada — or bust — for Nik Wallenda, according to New York State Parks.
In a statement sent to The Niagara Falls Review Friday evening, New York State Parks Commissioner Rose Harvey said she has reached out to the tightrope walker to inform him the agency can’t support a high-wire act limited to the American Falls.
Wallenda has not been able to secure approval for an international crossing from Canadian authorities.
“A walk limited to the American Falls is not what New York approved or envisioned in legislation authorizing Nik Wallenda to traverse the Niagara River Gorge from the United States to Canada,” Harvey said in the statement.
“The costs to New York State of managing a walk only across the American Falls would exceed $1 million in direct state expenses, while, because of the physical topography of Niagara Falls and crowd-safety concerns, the number of people who could watch such a walk would be extremely limited.
“As a result, despite the costs to New York State, the vast majority of people on the U.S. side would be turned away from the park and never see the walk.”
Related posts:
- Members of New York delegation respond to Wallenda rejection From Niagara Frontier Publications: In the wake of the Niagara...
- More on approval by NY for Wallenda to talk over Falls Yesterday I posted a few links to articles about Nik...
- Wallenda won’t give up on falls tightrope dream From the Niagara Falls Review: Both Nik Wallenda and the...
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Chan makes no promises to Wallenda
Here are a couple of articles from after the Nik Wallenda/Michael Chan meeting.
- Niagara This Week – Chan makes no promises to Wallenda
- Canadian Press (via CBC News) – Wallenda still hopeful to tightrope walk over Niagara Falls
Related posts:
- More on approval by NY for Wallenda to talk over Falls Yesterday I posted a few links to articles about Nik...
- Wallenda making pitch to Canada for tightrope walk From the Niagara Gazette: Nik Wallenda’s lifelong dream may be...
- Wallenda makes pitch to Canadians From the Tonawanda News: After his first meeting with officials...
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Wallend to meet with tourism minister
This happened on Friday, but I neglected to post the articles leading up to it. It is always interested to see how things are presented before in the news, and then afterwards. I’ll have a posting later with the articles after they met.
- Niagara Falls Review – Wallenda to meet tourism minister Friday
- Niagara This Week – Wallenda to meet with tourism minister
- Buffalo News – Wallenda making second pitch for Canadians’ permission
Related posts:
- Wallenda taking his case to tourism minister From the Niagara Falls Review: The Niagara Parks Commission slammed...
- Wallenda to meet with park, city officials about performance over gorge From the Niagara Gazette: Nik Wallenda is scheduled to meet...
- Minister’s door open: Craitor From Niagara This Week: The door to Tourism and Culture...
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Ontario, sanitized for your protection
The Toronto Sun newspapers had an opinion piece recently about Ontario, and how the government is trying to “protect us” (they called it a Nanny State). At one point, it uses Niagara Falls as an example:
These days, the architects of our bubble-wrapped, peanut-free society have their sights set on the daredevil community.
The nattering nabobs of nannyism at the Niagara Parks Commission won’t give permission to highwire walker Ken Wallenda to walk a tightrope across the Falls. Wallenda wants to start in Niagara Falls, N.Y., enter the mist, and re-emerge on the Canadian side. Fantastic!
Stateside, politicians who want to help the economically depressed city of Niagara Falls, N.Y. have championed Wallenda’s proposal, and lawmakers in Albany have approved the stunt.
But a snag has been encountered in — where else? — Nanny State Central. You see, Wallenda’s stunt isn’t being embraced by the testicular-challenged bureaucrats at the Niagara Parks Commission. Officials are frowning on what they deem to be a Falls folly.
Doubling down
Apparently, “risky business” in Niagara Falls, Ont. these days is confined to the rubes doubling down at the government-run blackjack tables.
When Wallenda first proposed the stunt, the Commission’s Janice Thomson remarked: “Doing something for one day doesn’t seem like sustainable tourism. It harkens back to those early days when Niagara Falls was a carnival-like atmosphere. We have come so far away from that.”
Egad! Has Thomson ever strolled up Clifton Hill, home to House of Frankenstein, Castle Dracula, and numerous other wax museums and freak shows?
Niagara Falls isn’t exactly Vienna on the Rhine. Actually, it can be cheesier than a bucket of Bulgarian feta.
Isn’t it disheartening that in our increasingly sissified culture the safety mavens are now turning their sights on daredevils?
So much for Dalton McGuinty’s oft-repeated boast that Ontario is “open for business” — Wallenda’s stunt stands, or stood, to rake-in millions for the region.
But that’s sanitized-for-your-protection Ontario — a province that wants bread, not circuses.
Related posts:
- Niagara Falls high-wire plans could go haywire From the Toronto Star: A daredevil’s plan to be the...
- Pressure mounts to OK walk across Niagara Falls From the Toronto Star: As an aerialist’s bid to tightrope...
- Daredevil still dreams of tightrope walk across Niagara Falls From CTV.ca: Canadian officials may have turned him down, but...
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Wallenda’s World
From the Niagara This Week:
It’s an interesting time in Niagara Falls.
The CAA Winter Festival of Lights are in full swing, the songs of the season echo down Queen Street. But the Niagara Parks Commission is not in a Christmas mood.
Playing the grinch to Nik Wallenda’s bid to walk across the gorge on a high wire, a decision to not allow the event — although understandable under the terms in which the NPC operates and its anti-stunting stance — isn’t necessarily the right one. There are always exceptions, rules are made to be broken and all that.
Related posts:
- Wallenda makes high-wire walk case before Canada’s Niagara Parks panel From the Buffalo News: After a lifetime of staring down...
- More on Nik Wallenda’s attempt to walk across the Falls The articles about Nik Wallenda’s proposal to walk over Niagara...
- Wallenda denied From Niagara This Week: The Niagara Parks Commission has denied...
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