Niagara Falls hopes event will bring luck, tourists

Thousands of tourists are expected today in Niagara Falls to witness Nik Wallenda walk a tightrope across the famous waterfalls, and the town here is hoping to get lucky as well.

Two towns of the same name are positioned across the falls, one on the U.S. side and the other on the Canadian.

Tourism has been booming for years on the Canadian side, but only eight million people, or as few as less than half the annual number of visitors to the Canadian side, go to the U.S. Niagara Falls.

The town has lost its industrial base and seen its popula- tion fall to 50,000 from 100,000 over the past 50 years, with unemployment at 11.5 per cent.

Paul Gromosiak, author of several books on Niagara Falls and its tightrope walkers, said, “A majority of people in the city are either retired or on welfare.

“Two thirds are in that situation. Only one-third is working and most of the jobs are low paying.”

So there’s growing anticipation over the planned walk by Wallenda on a steel cable across the falls.

Banners along the main tourist thoroughfare, Old Falls Street, call on the world to “watch history happen.” The T-shirt vendors are already set up.

John Percy, in charge of promoting tourism for the town, is ecstatic over the publicity coup. “It is worth its weight in platinum, even better than gold,” he said.

Wallenda, 33, will of course only walk across once. So “it will not change everything,” Percy said. But he believes the extravaganza, broadcast on ABC television, will boost efforts already underway to revive tourism.

A cooking institute is set to open, as well as several hotels. A casino has been built and other hotels have been restored.

“We still have a lot of work to do, but a lot is happening,” Percy said. “Wallenda is one of the many things I hope that will rejuvenate this city.”