Niagara Falls, N.Y. (WBEN) - Wednesday marked the 10th anniversary of Nik Wallenda's daring tightrope walk across Niagara Falls from the United States side to the Canadian side.
To commemorate the occasion, a bronze statue of Wallenda tightrope walking will be place outside Niagara Falls State Park in his honor. However, Wallenda hopes to see more of a permanent attraction on the American side and is making a call for unity on the American side of the Falls so that we can have a destination that is as unified or more so than our neighbors to the North.
"There are a lot of challenges. This mayor has a big task at hand right now and it's taking a lot on but I believe that we need to bring unity in this area and I think that's the challenge that Niagara Falls, US faces. I go to Canada, I'm invited to perform there all the time. I'm invited to do events and the reality is when I go over there, what I see is perfect unity between the Parks Department, between the government department and between the citizens, there's unity and I think that's what we need here," said Wallenda.
"I believe there are great things ahead. I believe that it is just the beginning and that there are great things ahead for Niagara Falls. It's not going to happen if we can't unify, if we can't all get on the same page for the same cause. The reality is, same causes the better of all of us. So politicians in general need to start focusing on the good cause for everybody and we need unity in our country in the world as well more than ever before."
Nik Wallenda spoke with WBEN early Wednesday morning before the commemorative announcement on the laws that had to be changed on both sides that had to be changed so that he could have permission to cross the border.
"To get the permission to walk across the Falls took changing legislation. It took changing a law that Governor Cuomo had to sign into effect that was over 100 years old allowing me to take that walk. Same on Canada, I had to change regulations over there to get permission. Niagara Falls is special to me for many reasons, but it will always be a memory. A billion people watched, they estimated within 48 hours and seen an image of that walk around the world and increased tourism and that had a great legacy effect to this area. This walk is unique because of just what it took the challenges of getting permission. That process is what led I think to the incredible following as the US official originally said no and then Canada said no, then the US said yes and that whole process really garnered a huge media following, which in turn created a huge fan base for my brand and for myself," Wallenda said.
Wallenda emphasized this is a team effort and we need to work together to make things happen to help restore the beauty on the United States side of the Falls.
"It's gonna take great leadership but it's gonna take unity. It can't just be on one person, it takes a team to be able to walk across the halls, it took a team of hundreds of people to make that happen. I couldn't have done it by myself. And if we can't have that happened here in Niagara Falls, there will never be a permanent attraction here," said Wallenda.
"I don't lose hope, because that's who I am and that's the way I work. It is heartbreaking to say that until there's full unity, it won't happen. One, it can't be on one man himself. I'm having those conversations constantly and to be honest with you, the phone rings from across the border often, but my heart wants to do something here. I want to do big things for the U.S. We need help here. They're doing incredible over there. We should be embarrassed."
"All of the things that have been promised, obviously continue to be a part of a conversation. I'm new to this conversation and from my perspective, if the roadblocks at any point were with local government, those roadblocks are gone. The next question is, who else is getting in the way? What's their reason for getting in the way and how do we move them out of the way?" said Niagara Falls Mayor Rob Restaino.