Column by Don Glynn —
It could prove a challenge as difficult as the one Nik Wallenda confronts this summer.
That planned tightrope walk across the Niagara Gorge will require the full cooperation of authorities, park commissions and — perhaps most important — the tourism agencies on both sides of the border.
Despite all the lip service about working together, there is keen competition between tourism operators in the two Cataract Cities.
Fortunately, it’s more civil now than years ago when countless motorists exiting from the I-190 at Niagara Falls Boulevard were met with deliberately misleading signs to prevent the visitors from finding the direct route to the falls. One of the most absurd was a sign with arrows pointing in opposite directions to the main attraction.
A major sightseeing operator and motel owner at the time explained: “My job is to see that people stay here longer. If they get lost, that’s their problem.”
That dark chapter in the Niagara tourist industry is, hopefully, behind us.
A new era is dawning with the much-heralded plan for Wallenda to walk 1,800 feet on a tightrope across the gorge with the thundering waterfalls as a backdrop.
It’s a made-for-media event, bound to produce international coverage for Niagara Falls.
Hundreds of print and electronic media people in the U.S. and Canada will carry stories and photos.
Beyond North America, Wallenda could end up being the biggest single promoter of the falls in the past two centuries.
Millions of people from foreign lands who have visited Niagara can expect to follow the story in their own newspapers (e.g., The Times of India, circulation, 3.1 million; Yomiuri Shumbun, published in Tokyo and Osaka, Japan, with a combined morning and evening circulation, 14.3 million; and Xinhua, the Chinese official news agency, 3.1 million circulation. Each of those nations is well represented annually in the Niagara Falls State Park.
On the electronic side, it might be worth the committee trying to market the wirewalk coverage to China Central Television, that nation’s largest and most powerful TV network with links to more than 250 TV organizations in some 130 countries. They even have an office in Washington, D.C.
•••
VALIANT EFFORT: The bravery of those involved trying to rescue a 70-year-old man from Hyde Park Lake Wednesday needs to be recognized in the community.
Niagara Falls Battalion Fire Chief Dan Boland and Fire Capt. Jason Zona were among those up front, laying their lives on the line to pull Pascal Scrufari from the icy waters.
Close by, other firefighters and several Niagara Falls police officers also provided vital assistance in the rescue operation that turned tragic.
Anyone who has ever helped in such a frustrating challenge is deeply hurt when the mission fails, as this one did.
Still the family and many friends of Scrufari should find some comfort in knowing that a thoroughly trained and highly skilled emergency team performed their crucial and dangerous jobs in a courageous manner.
Within seconds of when the alarm sounded — the first word from the dispatcher calling for assistance — the personnel were enroute to the scene.
As you can imagine, there’s always some negative person out there who is not impressed by such a response. “What’s the big deal?” snapped a retiree buying a newspaper in the North End. “That’s what those guys get paid for.”
On a brighter note, many readers have called the newsroom to give credit to Niagara Gazette’s Chief Photographer James Neiss for his outstanding photo that captured so much of the emotion and atmosphere in that Hyde Park Lake drama.
•••
‘NO PLACE LIKE...’: In the Seneca Niagara Casino Hotel lobby, a couple people were arguing when one suggested to the other, “Why don’t you just get out of here and go home?”
The second person shot back, “This is my home!”
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GLYNN: Wallenda event deserves mass marketing plan
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