“Harry Oakes – The Early Years” video
If you’ve been to Niagara Falls more than once, you’ve probably noticed the name Oakes on a lot of things. There is Oakes Garden Theatre, Oakes Park, and more. These are all named after Sir Harry Oakes. He was a prospector who discovered gold in Kirkland Lake, Ontario, and then bought some property in Niagara Falls. At one point he swapped the parcel of land where Oakes Garden Theatre now stands with another parcel of land. The name lives on with HOCO Entertainment & Resorts (Harry Oakes COmpany).
Anyway, yesterday I came across a video that the Museum of Northern History (housed in the Sir Harry Oakes Chateau) posted to YouTube. It is only a couple of minutes long, but talks a bit about Harry Oakes’ early years. You can see the video below, or on YouTube.
Click here to view the embedded video.
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Niagara Falls to Connect to Fun in the Central Florida Sun
From a press release seen on Yahoo! Finance:
Allegiant (Nasdaq:ALGT – News) today announces new, nonstop jet service between Niagara Falls, N.Y., and Orlando, Fla., via Orlando Sanford International Airport (SFB), will begin Feb. 15, 2012. The company, known for its exceptional travel deals, will introduce the new service with fares as low as $79.99* one way.
“We’re pleased to expand our brand of affordable and convenient travel options in Niagara Falls,” Andrew C. Levy, Allegiant Travel Company President, said. “We are confident that the residents of Niagara Falls and southern Ontario will appreciate flying nonstop to Orlando and take advantage of the great deals we offer on hotels, car rentals and theme park tickets.”
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Tightrope walker to learn Falls fate
From Canoe.ca:
Nik Wallenda will learn by Wednesday whether he will be allowed to walk a tightrope across Niagara Falls this summer.
Wallenda says a crowd of more than 125,000 would watch the walk live and as many as 400 million could watch the television broadcast, but the southern Ontario city is still debating whether it want to take a chance on the stunt.
The Niagara Parks Commission has indicated it will make a decision this week.
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N.F., Ont., inn gets new life as Wyndham
From Buffalo Business First:
The former Stanley Inn, once a landmark hotel on Stanley Avenue in Niagara Falls, Ont., will be reborn as the city’s first Wyndham Hotel .
Local developers are investing $7.5 million to renovate it into a nine-story, 152-suite hotel that will open next year. Located in the city’s Fallsview business district, it is near the recently opened Scotiabank Convention Centre and also close to Fallsview Casino Resort. The Stanley Inn has been vacant for more than five years.
As you know, I have reported on the construction on this site for months. However, I had no idea it was going to be a Wyndham property. Why don’t these companies put signs up to get the name out there. I would have included it in every posting if I had known. Seems like a missed opportunity…
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Marineland’s last-ditch effort to get injunction to keep killer whale fails
From the Niagara Falls Review:
Lawyers for Marineland hoped an 11th hour temporary injunction would block the return of one of its two killer whales to SeaWorld Friday.
The injunction, however, was denied by a U.S. district court judge and that led to the dramatic transport of the 1,815-kilogram killer whale Ikaika Saturday night.
More than a dozen police cars, a crane and a number of transport trucks arrived at the Niagara Falls amusement park just after 6 p.m. Floodlights and the crane could be seen from the road as workers removed the male killer whale and lowered him into a waiting transport truck container filled with cold water. Two hours later, the convoy left for Hamilton, where the nine-year-old whale was loaded into a cargo plane outfitted with a holding tank. Ikaika was flown to California and to SeaWorld San Diego, where he was lowered back into a tank Sunday morning.
“The animal was attended to by vets and other zoological professionals throughout the process,” Fred Jacobs, a spokesman for the Orlando-based SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment, wrote in an email.
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Canadian park sues SeaWorld to keep killer whale
From the Orlando Sentinel:
The Canadian theme park Marineland has sued SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment in U.S. court, in the latest chapter of an international custody battle over a killer whale.
In its lawsuit, filed last week in Orlando, Marineland asks a federal court judge to issue an injunction that would prevent SeaWorld from retaking possession of an 8-year-old killer whale that SeaWorld loaned to Marineland five years ago.
Marineland says SeaWorld executives repeatedly assured it that the loan would extend for so long as Marineland was able to care for the whale, which is named “Ikaika” but nicknamed “Ike.” The park, located in Niagara Falls, Ontario, also says the purpose of the loan was to allow Ikaika to breed with Marineland’s only other killer whale, a female named Kiska, and that Ikaika became capable of mating only late last year.
Marineland suggests that SeaWorld wants to end the agreement now because one of its few other breeding-age males — a 12-year-old killer whale named Sumar — died last year at SeaWorld San Diego.
I also saw similar articles:
- Welland Tribune – Marineland sues SeaWorld over killer whale
- 610 CKTB – Marineland sues SeaWorld
- The Toronto Star – Marineland sues SeaWorld over orca custody
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Governor OKs tightrope walk over falls
From the Buffalo News:
The Flying Wallenda who wants to cheat death with a tightrope walk across Niagara Falls will get his wish, at least with the blessing of New York state.
Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo signed legislation today permitting Nik Wallenda’s bid to walk 1,800 feet across the falls on a two-inch wide steel cable.
Officials on the Canadian side of the falls have yet to signal their final word on the matter.
In an interview this afternoon shortly after his team was told Cuomo signed the bill, Wallenda said, “For me, it’s as big as it gets. There’s tears in my eyes because it’s a dream come true.”
Wallenda said if all goes well he is looking at walking across the falls next June. He said he will wait until after upcoming elections in Canada to formally apply with Ontario parks officials. A backup plan, if Canada rejects the plan, is a walk just on the U.S. side of the falls.
The story was reported in other places as well:
- Niagara This Week – Governor OKs Wallenda’s tightrope bid
- Niagara Falls Review – Wallenda gets New York governor’s approval for wirewalk over falls
- WKBW Channel 7 in Buffalow – Daredevil In The Falls Good to Go in NYS
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Custody of killer whale plays out in court
Another great article about the Marinlenad/SeaWorld court case, this time from the Toronto Star:
Ikaika, an eight-year-old male killer whale at Marineland in Niagara Falls, is the equivalent of a troubled teenager. He is full of sexual energy, has a violent family tree and a pattern of aggressive behaviour that often leaves him swimming alone. Even so, two marine parks are waging a cross-border court battle for custody of the valuable orca.
A St. Catharines judge recently ruled he be returned to SeaWorld in Orlando, Fla., where he was born in August 2002. The judge’s ruling focused on legal technicalities surrounding the “breeding loan agreement” between the two parks.
Neither side is speaking on the matter publicly — both declined interviews with the Toronto Star — due to the pending appeal. Marineland repeatedly declined to comment on advice of their lawyers.
“We stand by our filings in the court record,” said Fred Jacobs, vice-president of communications for SeaWorld, in an email.
The court files, however, provide a rare glimpse into the dealings of the marine park community, which is notoriously private.
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Canada’s fling with Marilyn
(this isn’t directly related to Niagara Falls, but there is a blurb about Marilyn Monroe being in Niagara Falls)
From the Niagara Falls Review:
We know her influence in the U.S. but what kind of impression did Marilyn Monroe leave in Canada?
Plenty, according to the man who organized an exhibition in her honour at the McMichael Canadian Art Collection in Kleinburg, ON. Though she only made two high-profile visits to Canada – including Niagara Falls in 1952 – her stamp on pop culture is still felt through photos and artwork.
The exhibition closed in May, but Finn will be at the RiverBrink Art Museum July 17 to discuss Monroe’s enduring influence up north.
“(Niagara) was her first major acting role, and she was drawing quite a bit of attention,” says Finn, McMichael’s assistant curator. “It seemed like she had a much closer relationship with the people she met on the street than any other time in her career after that.”
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Going Our Way: A Canadian detour between Detroit and Washington
From the Washington Post:
A nine-hour drive with three children younger than 7 is not for the fainthearted, but Cathy Buffington and Don Badrak have a plan. The University Park couple, who’ll be driving from Detroit to Washington with their kids next month, want to veer off track for a few days in Ontario as long as they’re up north. High on their wish list: play time and family attractions in Toronto, hiking and parks of all kinds, especially water parks — or at least hotels with awesome pools.
Detouring via Canada will add about four hours to the drive home, but it’s well worth it for the chance to visit two primo family destinations: Toronto and Niagara Falls. Toronto in the summer is a delight, with enough activities to keep the gang busy for a week. And visiting the falls is one of those legendary experiences that the kids will remember for the rest of their lives. Plus they get to wear those cool yellow slickers. The only question: Stay on the Canadian or the U.S. side? More on that burning controversy later.
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