New chairwoman at parks
From the Niagara Falls Review:
Fay Booker, a Burlington business consultant who specializes in how corporations govern themselves, is expected to become the next chairwoman of the Niagara Parks Commission at a time the provincial agency is under scrutiny for the way it operates.
Tour ism Minister Michael Chan’s office announced in a 5 p.m., news release the Ontario Liberal government nominated Booker to lead the $80-million-a-year agency responsible for preserving the area around the Horseshoe Falls and running its attractions. Chan was not available to comment, his office staff said.
Booker, a chartered accountant, will fill the vacancy created by the abrupt December resignation of Jim Williams, who quit over a dispute with then-minister of tourism Monique Smith about how to handle an ongoing controversy surrounding its lease with the Maid of the Mist boat tour company.
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Cap nearing completion
From the Niagara Falls Review:
When planners for a competition of 2,000 cheerleaders asked Niagara Convention Civic Centre president Kerry Painter if her staff could have 20,000 orders of french fries at the ready, there’s only one answer she could give.
“Absolutely. I sure can,” Painter said, laughing about some of the unforeseen requirements the convention centre is going to have to meet when it opens its doors a little more than a year from now.
“I guess you burn a lot of energy cheerleading,” said Painter, originally from Windsor, but who was managing a convention centre in Slidell, La., when she was hired two years ago to head up the Niagara Falls centre.
The cheerleading convention is booked for May 2011, making it one of the first events to be held at the $105-million facility. Convention centre sales staff have filled April and most of May with events.
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Extreme athlete brings gold
From the Niagara Falls Review:
About the only thing faster than Olympic gold medallist Jon Montgomery going downhill on his skeleton is how quickly his popularity across the country has exploded.
From his joyous acceptance of the gold medal to his spontaneous beer-jug hoisting celebration on the streets of Whistler, B.C., Montgomery has become a national icon.
The charismatic native of Russell, Man., is in Niagara Falls Thursday for the launch of the new IMAX film, Extreme, which profiles sports that have an extreme edge. Hurtling headfirst down the side of a mountain certainly qualifies Montgomery to be the spokesman for extreme sports.
“The theatre, like myself, saw some incredibly strong parallels between what is going to be happening in this film and what it is that myself, my teammates and some of the other Canadians athletes who were just at the Olympics get up to with our training and competition schedule,” he said.
If you read the article, you find out that the movie opens to the public on Friday, and that the Thursday (today) launch is an “invitation-only” event. Jon will be there for a reception, and then the movie will be shown. I will be attending with my 7-year-old son and he’s very excited. I’ve heard that there are still some seats available, so you might be able to contact the theatre and see if you can get in. I would NOT advise just showing up. They are reserving spots so that they only let in as many as can fit in the theatre.
I’ll try to write about it on Friday, but if not, then early next week…
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World Magic Awards with Frewin airs Sunday
From the Niagara Falls Review:
Niagara magician Greg Frewin’s triumphant night at last year’s World Magic Awards in Los Angeles will be televised on Sun TV this Sunday night.
The show, which saw Frewin win the prestigious Magician of the Year award, will air at 8 p.m. The special aired in November in the U.S.
Frewin also closes the show with a performance.
The show airs on Cogeco channels 15, 16 and 45 (depending on service), Bell Express VU Channel 213, and Star Choice Channel 326.
Note: I’ll record it and put up some screenshots next week sometime…
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Condemnation for Hotel Niagara?
From the Niagara Gazette:
It appears as though the old Hotel Niagara is headed for condemnation.
City council members learned Monday that a recent inspection of the Rainbow Boulevard property revealed several areas of concern, including the lack of electricity, heat and an operational fire protection system inside the building.
Chief Code Enforcement Officer Dennis Virtuoso stopped short of saying the building would be condemned but said representatives from his office would pay a visit sometime today.
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Rally to save parks from budget ax
WIVB Channel 4 in Buffalo had a report (including video) on an upcoming rally to try to save the NY State Parks system.
Wednesday in Albany, a rally to save the state parks from the budget ax.
Residents and state leaders will hold a rally to protest cuts in the governor’s budget, which could mean the closing of 90 state parks and historic sites statewide.
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Talks boost development hopes in Falls, but progress still slow
From the Buffalo News:
More than a decade ago, Manhattan real estate billionaire Howard P. Milstein first invested in a company with grand plans to redevelop a huge swath of derelict property in Niagara Falls, and so far there is almost nothing to show for it.
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Feds want passport views
From the Niagara Falls Review:
The federal government won’t move ahead with its plan to incorporate biometric technology into passports until Canadians have had a chance to weigh in on it.
Pamela Stephens, a spokeswoman for Justice Minister and Attorney General Rob Nicholson, said Friday the minister’s office has been assured by Passport Canada that the agency intends to conduct public consultations, which will likely commence in early April.
The federal government has talked about introducing biometric passports as far back as 2008. The plan was mentioned again in last week’s speech from the throne. However, the government’s proposed 2010 budget, unveiled last week, didn’t provided specific details about funding for the initiative.
Some local tourism officials have expressed support in principle for biometrics, but want to know if the changes will mean Canadians will have to pay more to acquire the important border-crossing documents.
“Before price is established, there will be a public consultation process,” said Stephens. “In the second part of that process, they will introduce a fee structure, so they’re going to consult Canadians on a price before anything is … announced.”
“That will be an important part for people, particularly in the Niagara area.”
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Parks to lead marketing group
From the Niagara Falls Review:
Tourism officials in Niagara will speak with one voice as they try to attract more marketing cash to the region.
Industry groups have agreed on a partnership they hope Ontario will accept as a regional tourism organization.
The provincial government announced the creation of 13 new tourism regions, including one for Niagara, late last year.
Agencies in each region were invited to apply to form a new co-ordinating tourism body, which would be responsible for handing out all future marketing dollars from Queen’s Park.
A week before the March 1 deadline, Niagara’s several tourism groups still hadn’t reached a consensus on who should be in charge.
That changed late last week, Joel Noden, the executive director of business development for the Niagara Parks Commission, told QMI Agency last week.
“At this point it looks like there will be only one major submission to the province, which is pretty exciting,” said Noden, whose agency was chosen to temporarily act on behalf of the proposed new Tourism Partnership of Niagara, an indep e n d e nt, non-profit agency that would be run by a board of directors.
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Olympic take on Oh Canada Eh
From the Niagara Falls Review:
Thought the Olympics closing ceremonies looked familiar? If you’ve seen the Oh Canada Eh dinner show in Niagara Falls, you weren’t imagining things.
From the moose to the lumberjacks to the hockey players, the cheeky celebration of all things Canadiana was like a carbon copy of the award-winning show that has been tickling tourists since 1994.
“Anne of Green Gables was the only thing missing in their performance that’s in ours,” said an amused Oh Canada Eh vice-president Anne Robinson…
Robinson had so much deja vu watching the closing ceremonies, she wondered if the Olympic producers took in a show or two of Oh Canada Eh at some point.
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