February 29, 2008
Printed by the Review
Owners lining up to race at Fort track
Posted By JOHN ROBBINS
Last week, the Fort Erie Race Track announced there will indeed be live racing this year.
On Thursday, the track confirmed they have enough horses to run the races.
Track spokesman Daryl Wells said more than 1,000 applications have been received for stalls at the track so far with the possibility of more coming in still.
That’s fewer than the 1,400 applications the track had at this time last year – but welcome news, considering it wasn’t until last week that track owner Nordic Gaming confirmed it was committed to 80 days of live racing this season. (more…)
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Seven-year itch brings just rewards; Winemaker honoured for lifetime of achievements
Posted By MONIQUE BEECH
John Howard, a noted Niagara wine industry leader, broke his seven-year rule just once.
For seven years, he ran a Burlington office product and technology company, O.E. Hamilton, which he co-founded in the late 1970s.
Seven years he worked as a top executive with Canon at its New York office.
Then 1993 rolled around.
“And then I bought Vineland (Estates Winery). The little winery up the road.” (more…)
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A contest the falls cannot lose; Time to choose world’s 7 new natural wonders
Posted By Law, John
April will mark 18 years since I moved to Niagara Falls, and while we haven’t always seen eye to eye I’ve never loved the actual falls more.
I’m convinced everyone who moves here has a relationship with our namesake in three stages.
First is infatuation: You can’t believe you can see the falls whenever you want. Your parents had to drive hundreds of kilometres to bring you here as a kid, now it’s practically in your backyard! Like newlyweds, you can’t get enough of each other.
Then comes resentment: You start hating tourist season. You can’t get any ‘alone’ time with your waterfalls any more. You avoid the whole tacky, tawdry scene. You even gripe about turning your wipers on while driving through the mist. The thrill is gone, baby. (more…)
February 28, 2008
Printed by the Review
Audi takes cars for spin on airport ice rink
Posted By MATTHEW VAN DONGEN
The yellow rally car bursts through a snowdrift, sending snow and orange pylons flying.
The Audi Quattro almost flies, too, as it skids and spins nearly 180 degrees around a sharp, icy curve.
It is at an airport, after all.
“It’s a fabulous place for a test drive,” said automotive writer Joe Tralongo, who grinned after a wild ride around an icy airstrip at Niagara District Airport Wednesday morning.
“Try finding another airport that will let you zoom around on its runway without (security) agents chasing you around. (more…)
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Second phase of Fury campaign unveiled
Glacial devastation. Cataclysmic flooding. Monumental landslides. Will you survive the fury?
That’s the latest tagline intended to lure people to a website teasing the Niagara Parks Commission’s multi-million dollar attraction, Niagara’s Fury, set to open later this year.
In its second phase of a marketing campaign intended to pique curiosity about what Niagara’s Fury will entail, the NPC has put a 90-second video clip onto the website www.niagaras fury.com.
Those who visit the site will also be able to enter a contest for VIP passes to the attraction’s grand opening.
The prize includes two nights at a Niagara Falls hotel for a family of four, VIP passes to the grand opening event, lunch and dinner at a Niagara Parks restaurant and Niagara Falls and Great Gorge Adventure passes. (more…)
February 27, 2008
Printed by the Review
Moving from anticipation to accommodation; Mayor’s state of city address boasts building expansion in wake of securing convention centre
Posted By JENNIFER PELLEGRINI
In his state of the city address last year, Niagara Falls Mayor Ted Salci talked up anticipated federal and provincial investments in a convention centre to lure year-round visitors to the city.
With the funding now securely in place – and Thursday’s expected introduction of the new convention centre president – this year’s speech turned to building more hotels to accommodate the crowds of conventioneers expected to fill it.
“The City of Niagara Falls (issued) more than 1,300 building permits in 2007,” Salci told Niagara Falls Chamber of Commerce members at a luncheon at Club Italia Tuesday. (more…)
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Music awards co-ordinator ‘floored’ by Niagara talent; Submission deadline is Friday for region’s first music awards
Posted By JOHN LAW
With the deadline looming for submissions to the first annual Niagara Music Awards, co-ordinator Morgan Whelan is getting tired of picking herself up.
“The talent is just absolutely flooring me,” she says, sizing up the 113 entries received so far.
“And I know a lot of people are waiting until the last minute, so it makes me a little nervous. We might get bombarded in the next couple of days.” (more…)
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Convention centre hires new general manager and president
Posted By COREY LAROCQUE
The Niagara Convention and Civic Centre has named its new general manager and president. Kerry Painter was hired to manage the centre, which is scheduled to open in 2011.
Mayor Ted Salci made the announcement during Monday’s council meeting.
Painter comes to Niagara Falls from the Northshore Harbor Center in Slidell, La., near New Orleans. That convention centre’s board of directors announced a national search to replace her, according to an article in the New Orleans Times-Picayune last week. Painter managed the Northshore Harbor Center since before it opened in 2005, the paper reported. It was an emergency shelter for about 350 people following hurricane Katrina in 2005. (more…)
