Niagara Falls Blog – Travel and Tourism News

Photos of the Niagara SkyWheel were recently added to our Niagara Falls Picture site. Click on the photos below to see more.

Click here for more information on the Niagara SkyWheel

Aerial Photos of the Niagara SkyWheel

With the help of Rudi Hafen of Niagara Falls helicopters and Anton Fercher of NPS, we were able to capture some very spectacular photos of the Niagara SkyWheel.

These new aerial photos can be seen at our Niagara Falls Pictures site, just click on the thumbnails below to view more.

Click here for more information on the Niagara SkyWheel

Printed by “The Street” in their “Personal Finance: The Good Life” section

Weekend Getaway: Niagara Falls

By Ana Dane
Assistant Editor
9/29/2006 9:50 AM EDT

The rush of standing right next to Niagara Falls, close enough to feel the spray on your face, is an unparalleled experience.

When you consider that there are few natural wonders left unpaved or unfenced in this country, these thundering falls are even more impressive. Niagara won’t disappoint, whether taken in from the American Falls, Horseshoe Falls, or the Bridal Veil Falls (it’s actually three separate waterfalls).

Although Niagara may bring to mind cheap souvenirs, heart-shaped Jacuzzis and washed-up lounge singers, the Falls and surrounding area have much more to offer — and after the summer crowds have moved on is an ideal time to take it all in.

Niagara Falls spans the border of New York state and Ontario, Canada, and can be reached via the nearby airports of Buffalo (about 20 minutes away) or Toronto (just over an hour away).
Click here to continue reading this article.

Printed from Niagara this Week

Hotel plan riles group
Expansion would block last clear view of falls: Preserve Our Parks

Robert Lapensee
Sep 29, 2006

NIAGARA FALLS — The grassroots citizens group which successfully lobbied the Niagara Parks Commission to scrap plans for a controversial gondola ride at Table Rock in 2004 has once again stepped forward, this time to fight a proposal for a hotel expansion the group says will block the final unobstructed view of the falls in the Fallsview district.

Preserve Our Parks, the group which led the fight against the gondola plans, met last week to formulate its strategy to fight the expansion plans for the Marriott Fallsview Hotel.

Mel Grunstein, a member of Preserve Our Parks, said the hotel proposal has the potential to rile up Falls residents.

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New Photos of Clifton Hill were recently added to our Niagara Falls Picture Gallery Click on the thumbnails below to see more.

Bannerman performs at Queenston Chapel tonight
Thursday, September 28, 2006 @ 02:00

Writer and performer Maja Bannerman will perform his Hustle Your Bustle show at the Niagara Parks Queenston Chapel at 8 p.m. tonight. Bannerman’s show is a variety of vignettes and songs that uncover Ontario’s past.

Admission is $10 for adults and $5 for children six to 12. For more information, call 905-934-7278.

Printed in the Niagara Gazette

VIDEO: Rocketman blasts off in the Falls

By Denise Jewell
Niagara Gazette
NIAGARA FALLS — BY DENISE JEWELL

jewelld@gnnewspaper.com

The crowd outside the Niagara Aerospace Museum on Wendel Way hushed and a rocket erupted as pilot Eric Scott gave a thumbs up Saturday and defied gravity.

Wearing black and red and a rocket strapped to his back, the 43-year-old Denver resident propelled himself about 40 feet above the pavement as dozens of spectators watched.

Technology first developed 49 years ago at Bell Aerosystems in Niagara Falls returned to the Cataract City this weekend for a convention of more than one hundred rocketbelt pilots, writers and engineers.

Click here to read the rest of the article.

Printed in the Akron Beacon Journal

Biggest kite in the world to fly at Niagara Falls fest

Associated Press

NIAGARA FALLS, N.Y. – The world’s largest kite will be flown at the Niagara International Kite Festival Oct. 6-9 in Niagara Falls, N.Y.

The kite measures 83 by 131 feet and will be flown by a team led by Masaaki Modegi, president of the Japan Kite Association, in Reservoir State Park in Lewiston, on Saturday and Sunday of Columbus Day weekend.

Prospect Park in Niagara Falls State Park will host a re-enactment of an 1848 kite contest on the Friday and Monday of Columbus Day weekend, along with an attempt to connect the United States and Canada with an arch of kites.

Click here to read the rest of this article

Details about this event can be found at www.niagarakite.com and www.niagara-usa.com.

Photo Courtesy of Cirque Niagara

Released on CNW

National tourism award finalists announced

OTTAWA, Sept. 25 /CNW Telbec/ – Thirty-eight companies and individuals
representing the best of Canada’s tourism industry are finalists for the 2006
TIAC National Awards for Tourism Excellence presented by The Globe and Mail.
The finalists for each of 13 awards were chosen by a judging panel of
tourism industry leaders and announced today by Tourism Industry Association
of Canada President and CEO Randy Williams. The recipient of a 14th award, the
Canadian Travel Press Lifetime Achievement Award, will be decided by the
association’s Board of Directors. All of the awards will be presented at a
gala dinner on October 23, 2006, at the Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge, in Jasper,
Alberta, during Canada’s Tourism Leadership Summit.
The finalists are identified below. Details can be found at

http://www.tiac-aitc.ca/english/ntawards_nominations.asp.

AIR CANADA BUSINESS OF THE YEAR AWARD – SINGLE-UNIT
Dynamic Earth (Sudbury, Ontario)
Oak Hammock Marsh Interpretive Centre (Interlake, Manitoba)
Sheraton Suites Calgary Eau Claire (Calgary, Alberta)

APR MEDIA LTD. BUSINESS OF THE YEAR AWARD – MULTIPLE-UNIT
Niagara Parks Commission (Niagara Falls, Ontario)
Savonnerie Olivier Soapery (Ste-Anne-de-Kent, N.B.)
Saskatchewan Gaming Corporation (Regina, Saskatchewan)

THE BDC NEW BUSINESS OF THE YEAR AWARD
Adventure Engine (Rossland, B.C.)
London-Wul Fibre Arts (Lakeburn, N.B.)
Québec Sporting Inc. (Gaspé, Québec)

AIR MILES(R) REWARD PROGRAM INNOVATOR OF THE YEAR AWARD
Canadian War Museum (Ottawa, Ontario)
Ottawa Tourism (Ottawa, Ontario)
Ripley Ridge Retreat (Calgary, Alberta)

STARWOOD HOTELS AND RESORTS WORLDWIDE INC. CORPORATE PARTNER OF THE YEAR
AWARD
AMEX Canada Inc.
Budget Car and Truck Rental Saskatoon (Saskatchewan)
Canada AM

THE GLOBE AND MAIL TRAVEL MEDIA AWARD
Cheryl MacKinnon (Vancouver, B.C.)
Digital Time Machine Incorporated (Montréal, Québec)
Travelscope (California, USA)

VIA RAIL CANADA VOLUNTEER OF THE YEAR AWARD
Mary Majka (Mary’s Point, N.B.)
Dr. Mitchell Franklin (St. Martin’s, N.B.)
Dennison and Ann Tate (Berry Mills, N.B.)

FAIRMONT HOTELS & RESORTS MARKETING CAMPAIGN OF THE YEAR AWARD
Art Gallery of Ontario (Toronto, Ontario)
Cirque Niagara’s Avaia (Niagara Falls, Ontario)
Anderson Vacations (Sherwood Park and Calgary, Alberta)

METRO TORONTO CONVENTION CENTRE EVENT OF THE YEAR AWARD
Celtic Colours International Festival (Halifax, N.S.)
Rock the Fort 2005 (Fort William Historical Park, Ontario)
La Foire gourmande de l’Abitibi-Témiscamingue et du Nord-Est ontarien
(Ville-Marie, Québec)

CTHRC AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE IN HUMAN RESOURCES DEVELOPMENT – SINGLE-UNIT
BUSINESS
Capilano Suspension Bridge and Park (West Vancouver, B.C.)
The Great George (Charlottetown, P.E.I.)
Super 8 Motel Winnipeg South (Winnipeg, Manitoba)

CTHRC AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE IN HUMAN RESOURCES DEVELOPMENT – MULTIPLE-UNIT
BUSINESS
Tourism British Columbia
Delta Barrington and Halifax (Halifax, N.S.)

DELTA HOTELS EMPLOYEE OF THE YEAR AWARD
Andreas Haun, Kingsbrae Garden (St. Andrews, N.B.)
Justin Joseph, Cirque Niagara (Niagara Falls, Ontario)
Dode Stiles, Tourism Calgary (Calgary, Alberta)

PARKS CANADA SUSTAINABLE TOURISM AWARD
Bay of FundyTourism Partnership (N.B.)
Coastal Connections Limited (Petley, Newfoundland and Labrador)
Frontiers North Tundra Buggy(R) Adventure (Churchill, Manitoba)

The TIAC National Awards for Tourism Excellence presented by The Globe
and Mail were developed in 2003 by the Tourism Industry Association of Canada,
the national private-sector advocate for Canada’s $62.7 billion tourism
industry, to recognize and foster Canadian tourism excellence.

For further information: Margot Booth, Director of Communications &
Public Relations, Tourism Industry Association of Canada, (613) 238-6251,
(613) 222-8382 – cell

Released on CNW

Fallsview Casino Resort to host the World Poker Tour Canadian Open in October

Inaugural event to allow poker players to experience the thrill of big-
time TV poker;

WPT Canadian Open to be held in conjunction with WPT’s North American
Poker Championship

NIAGARA FALLS, ON, Sept. 25 /CNW/ – Officials with Fallsview Casino
Resort announced today that the resort will host the first-ever World Poker
Tour (WPT) Canadian Open from October 22 to October 24 – just days before the
giants of the poker community arrive in Niagara Falls for the WPT North
American Poker Championship, beginning October 25.
Created to give recreational poker players from both sides of the border
the opportunity to experience a big-time professional poker event, the WPT
Canadian Open will be run exactly like the WPT North American Poker
Championships, but will have lower buy-in costs both for the tournament itself
and its various satellite tournaments, which are already underway in the Poker
Room at Casino Niagara – Fallsview’s sister property.
“Players taking part in the WPT Canadian Open will experience everything
the professional WPT players experience – the bright lights, the TV cameras,
the pressure – everything,” said Greg Medulun, the Manager of Corporate
Communications for Fallsview. “Playing on-line and in regular casino games is
one thing, but sitting where the stars sit with all eyes on you is quite
another.”
The participants in the WPT Canadian Open will play down until, at the
end of the day on October 24, there are just six players left for the final
table. Then, Fallsview will run the WPT North American Poker Championship from
October 25 to October 28 with the final table being held on October 29.
Finally, after allowing the pressure to build for six days, the six WPT
Canadian Open finalists will play their final table on October 30 in front of
the cameras.
“We recognized the need for a major national televised poker event that
Canadians could call their own,” said Steve Lipscomb, CEO and founder of WPT
Enterprises, Inc. “Canada is rich with poker fans – both new and long-standing
- who have already embraced the WPT on their TV networks. They have watched
several of their own rise to the top on World Poker Tour, including Gavin
Smith, the Season IV WPT Player of the Year, and Daniel Negreanu, the Season
III WPT Player of the Year. We look forward to working in concert with the
Fallsview Casino to establish the WPT Canadian Open as the premiere poker
event in Canada.”
Players can buy directly into the WPT Canadian Open’s main event for
$2,700CDN or into the satellite tournaments at two different levels – $50
events on Sundays, Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays and $330 events on
Fridays and Saturdays until October 21. A win at the $50 level earns the
winner a seat at the $330 level. A win at the $330 level earns the winner a
seat in the main event. In addition to the satellite tournaments already
underway at Casino Niagara, satellite events will also be held in poker rooms
at other participating Ontario Lottery and Gaming casinos and charity casinos.
Members of the public who would like additional information or are
interested in registering for the WPT Canadian Open, the WPT North American
Poker Championship or any of their satellite tournaments can call the
Fallsview Casino WPT Hotline at 1-866-5-POKER-5 or visit the Players Advantage
Club booth at either Fallsview Casino Resort or Casino Niagara. Information on
all WPT tournaments is available at www.worldpokertour.com.
Fallsview Casino Resort is rapidly gaining a reputation as ‘Canada’s
Poker Capital,’ thanks to its role as host of the World Poker Tour’s North
American Poker Championship (the first WPT event ever held in Canada) and the
inaugural WPT Canadian Open.

About Fallsview Casino Resort

Built on a cliff overlooking the world-famous Horseshoe Falls, Fallsview
Casino Resort is the largest and most elegant gaming resort facility in Canada
and the crown jewel in Niagara’s stunning array of wonders. It features a
casino with over 3,000 slot machines and 142 gaming tables, a 374-room luxury
hotel, a full-service spa and fitness centre, a 1,500-seat showroom, dozens of
dining and shopping options, over 30,000 square feet of meeting and convention
space and the only wedding chapel in a Canadian gaming facility.

About WPTE

WPT Enterprises, Inc. (Nasdaq: WPTE) is a company engaged in the creation
of internationally branded entertainment and consumer products driven by the
development, production, and marketing of televised programming based on
gaming themes. WPTE is the creator of the World Poker Tour(R), a television
show based on a series of high-stakes poker tournaments that airs on the
Travel Channel in the United States and more than 150 markets globally. With
the WPT in its fifth season, WPTE has launched a second series on the Travel
Channel, the Professional Poker Tour(TM), which focuses on the play of poker’s
leading stars. WPT also operates a real-money online gaming website,
www.wptonline.com, which prohibits wagers from players in the U.S. and other
restricted jurisdictions. WPTE currently licenses its brand to companies in
the business of poker equipment and instruction, apparel, publishing,
electronic and wireless entertainment, DVD/home entertainment, casino games,
and giftware. The company is also engaged in the sale of corporate
sponsorships. For show information, tools for improving poker play, and other
WPT news, fans may log on to www.worldpokertour.com. WPTE is a majority owned
subsidiary of Lakes Entertainment, Inc. (Nasdaq: LACO). Photos and media
information can be found online at: www.worldpokertour.com/media

For further information: Greg Medulun, Manager, Corporate