Wallenda will walk
‘This has been a dream of mine since I was six’
The niagara parks commission has reversed its original decision and will allow Nik Wallenda to walk across the Niagara gorge on a tightrope.
“Persistence pays off ,” Wallenda said after being given the green light.
“I’m pretty emotional.
“This has been a dream of mine since I was six years old.”
The surprising decision was made Wednesday morning at an NPC board meeting where the commissioners unanimously voted both to allow the walk this summer and future stunts “once a generation.”
It clears the way for Wallenda to walk across a 540- metre tightrope this summer from Goat Island in Niagara Falls, N.Y., to Table Rock in Niagara Falls, Ont.
“It’s a new day,” NPC chairwoman Janice Thomson said.
Asked why the commission made an about face on the issue, Thomson said: “We recognized that people want this, and we received additional information from Mr. Wallenda.”
That information, including potential financial benefits to the parks commission f rom having an estimated 120,000 people on site to witness the walk, was presented to Thomson and various public officials Feb. 2 at a meeting set up by Ontario Minister of Tourism Michael Chan.
The NPC had already voted against the walk in December, but after appealing to Chan, Wallenda was given a second chance in a meeting that was far longer than the 10- minute appearance he was given at the previous NPC meeting Nov. 16.
Wednesday’s public meeting was held in front of about 50 people at Whirlpool Golf Course.
After some debate over the issue, commissioner Ron Mckerlie, the deputy minister of government services, put forward a motion that would allow for Wallenda’s walk this summer, and then another stunt once every 20 years.
Of the nine voting commissioners on the NPC board, only five were present, but all five — including Barbara Greenwood, Mckerlie, Vince Kerrio, Lori Sterling and Doug Martin — voted to accept it.
“To get that green light, I feel like I’m on top of the world,” said Wallenda.
“There was no point that I thought this wasn’t going to happen. It’s a dream, and I hope it’s inspirational to everyone out there.”
The commission will give Wallenda 45 days to negotiate the arrangements for the walk, which has to happen before t he end of August because that’s when his permission from the New York State senate runs out.
During the debate about the issue, Kerrio said he would like to see the event happen earlier in the season.
“I look at this as a fantas- tic opportunity for us to make money,” he said.
“We’re already busy in July and August, so I think it would be better if it was in June. Let’s do it at a time when it would help us.”
The crossing itself will take between 35 and 40 minutes, but it’ll take about four days to set up and tear down the equipment, and months of preparation leading up to the walk.
Wallenda has a signed deal with Discovery Channel to broadcast the event to as many as 400 million live television viewers around the world.
The 120,000 spectators in Canada is in addition to another 65,000 the performer believes will watch the walk from the American side.