VIDEO: Wallenda completes walk over D'Youville with ease

BUFFALO (WBEN) - Almost nine years to the day (June 15, 2012) of that famous walk over Niagara Falls, Nik Wallenda was back in Western New York Thursday, this time conquering a 320-foot walk that spanned a portion of D'Youville's campus on the west side of Buffalo.

"I love being on the wire," said Wallenda after completing the walk, which is the longest high wire walk in the history of Buffalo.

The large crowd that showed up for Wallenda's walk were also treated to a semi air show, as the Blue Angels were practicing over the city for much of the afternoon.

"I'm in awe, and I'm amazed - I'm having a great time," said Anita Riforgiato, a self-identified Nik Wallenda fan.

Terence Todd was slightly disappointed that Wallenda is required to wear his harness when doing stunts in New York State, but overall he was thrilled at how the day turned out.

"I was 9 years old when I first saw him walk Niagara Falls on TV," said Todd. "It's great that the college put this on - we had the Blue Angels flying over, had Nik go over - I was really impressed."

Wallenda has performed walks all over the world including the Grand Canyon, Chicago River, Times Square, and even a volcano in Nicaragua.

Regardless of his vast travels, he said Western New York will always be a special place to him, and he even plans to return regularly.

"There will always be a piece of me here, and I would like to do something that has more of a permanent presence," he said. "It is something that we've worked on, and it seemed like it was going to happen - we were near the finish line - then it fell apart.

"But I live by those words 'never give up,' and I believe that we will get there," Wallenda added. "I continue to push on, and I had some great meetings while I was up here the last couple days, and again, next year is our 10-year anniversary, 363 days from today actually, and it would be a great time to announce something big."

Wallenda, a seventh-generation acrobat, has walked above an active volcano in Nicaragua and over the Little Colorado River Gorge near the Grand Canyon. He also walked above New York's Times Square with his sister, Lijana Wallenda.

The Wallenda family has been a star tightrope-walking troupe for generations, tracing their roots to 1780 in Austria-Hungary, when their ancestors traveled as a band of acrobats, aerialists, jugglers, animal trainers and trapeze artists.