If you're looking for fun against a backdrop of stunning scenery, world-famous Niagara Falls fits the bill perfectly
THE DAUGHTER OF American politician Aaron Burr is credited
with starting the honeymoon tradition in 1801. Then came Jerome Bonaparte,
Napoleon’s brother, in 1804. A tradition is born! Today, 50,000 honeymoons are
arranged annually.
THE FALLS WERE formed about 12,000 years ago by the melt
waters from the retreating glaciers. Today, six million cubic feet of water
tumble over the crest every minute during peak daytime tourist hours (some
water is diverted overnight to power the electricity generators) — enough water
to fill one million bathtubs every minute.
HAS NIAGARA EVER stopped flowing? Yes. In 1848, an ice dam
at Fort Erie shut off the water over the Falls for 30 hours.
It wasn’t very long ago that Niagara Falls was all about
nature. The roar of the water. Miles of beautifully manicured parkland along
the Niagara River. The floral clock. People have been coming to “the Falls” for
its dramatic scenic beauty for decades.
All of that nature is still there, of course, but in the
past few years, Niagara Falls has undergone a significant transformation. No
longer is it merely the place where one of the world’s natural wonders is
located. Now, it promotes itself as a broadly based business community, a city
that is a multi-faceted tourism and cultural destination.
Today, Niagara Falls boasts superior hotels, fine dining,
two casinos, plenty of family entertainment and a vibrant nightlife. For a
relatively small city of just over 82,000, Niagara Falls boasts a great many
attractions, amenities and entertainment opportunities you might expect to find
only in much larger centres. Whether you call it home or are just visiting,
there is a lot to see and do.
Plenty to keep you busy
There’s Fallsview Casino Resort and Casino Niagara.
MarineLand. The Butterfly Conservatory. The Niagara Botanical Gardens. IMAX
theatre. Ripley’s Believe It Or Not museum. Louis Tussaud’s Waxworks. A
three-acre indoor water park. The giant Skywheel ferris wheel that rises 53 metres
and features enclosed gondolas that seat six.
Attached to the main casino are restaurants, a deluxe hotel,
high-end shopping arcade and live performance theatre that attracts top-notch
entertainers.
But still, everything is there for one reason: the Falls.
It’s why Hollywood chose the city as the location for its 1952 film,
Niagara,
that starred a young Marilyn Monroe. It’s why two towers have been built to
give people a bird’s-eye perspective of the landscape. (On a clear day from the
towers, you can see Toronto, Buffalo and Niagara wine country.)
The Falls are spectacular year-round. At Christmas, there’s
the Festival of Lights. Then as winter continues, ice piles up in the river and
the mist falls on the railing that runs along the embankment of the Falls
gorge, then freezes into artistic geometric shapes.
Get a bird's-eye view of the Falls from a helicopter
In warm weather, you can don a blue slicker and hop on the
Maid of the Mist boat, then head right into the mist that rises from the
churning waters. You can take a whitewater jet boat ride. You can travel across
the Whirlpool Rapids, a few miles downstream, on the Spanish Aero Car. Or you
can fly over the Falls in a helicopter. You can even walk behind the Falls.
The Falls have been mesmerizing people for a very long time.
The First Nations people revered them. LaSalle and his party were the first
Europeans to set eyes on the Falls. The priest who accompanied him, Father Louis Hennepin, drew them.
The Falls have enticed those wanting to challenge their
power. In 1859, Jean François “Blondin” Gravelet became the first person to
cross Niagara Falls on a tightrope.
In 1901, 63-year-old teacher Annie Taylor stuffed herself
and her cat into a barrel and went over the Falls. Both survived.
The roar of Niagara continues around the clock, 365 days of
the year. But the water takes its toll on the rock structure and currently,
Niagara Falls is wearing its way back toward Lake Erie by about a foot a year.
New convention centre, People Mover aim to keep economy humming
If you live in, or visit Niagara Falls, you’ll also have
close access to Niagara’s famed vineyards and wineries, as well as several golf
courses. Niagara-on-the-Lake’s world-renowned Shaw Festival is just a few
minutes’ drive away. The Niagara Parkway bicycle and hiking trail follows the
river through the city.
City leaders are working to ensure its economy keeps
growing. Council has signed a $100-million contract for a Niagara Convention
and Civic Centre, set to open in 2011. The 280,778-square-foot facility will
sport glass facades on two sides. A bowed curtain of glass from the roofline is
intended to represent “the sweep of the waterfalls and jagged rock formations
of Niagara's imposing gorge.”
Nearby, the Gale Centre will consist of an NHL-sized rink
with 2,000 seats, as well as three community rinks. And in the city core,
railway tracks are being removed to make way for a state-of-the-art People
Mover transportation system to help ferry around the 16 million tourists who
visit the area every year. An estimated 10 million visit the casino. More than
five million travel more than 240 kilometres to get to Niagara Falls.
Niagara Falls is a busy international border crossing. For
those looking for cross-border shopping opportunities, Niagara Falls has two
bridges to the United States. And in total, Niagara Falls crossing points
account for the largest portion of trade between Canada and the U.S.
On the shopping front, the Canada One Factory Outlets mall
features brand name shopping at bargain prices.
City faces shortage of land designated for residential development
On the education front, the Niagara Parks School of
Horticulture is located in Niagara Falls, and the city houses a branch campus
of Niagara College. Next door in St. Catharines sits Brock University.
The outlook for population growth is both good and bad.
Housing is still reasonably priced compared to larger centres. A standard
two-storey home goes for $179,000 in Niagara Falls, compared to $350,000 in
Oakville.
But a 2007 study concluded that Niagara Falls does not have
enough land designated for housing to accommodate the potential population
growth over the next two decades. On the other hand, it has too much land
designated for industrial use.
More affordable than nearby Niagara-on-the-Lake
The city lost one-third of its manufacturing jobs during the
1990s and the prospects do not appear bright for this sector in the future.
Meanwhile, with neighbouring municipalities, such as St. Catharines, also
facing shortages of land designated for housing, Niagara Falls stands to gain
if it increases its supply, said the study. It concluded that the city should
look at redesignating industrial lands for residential use in its official
plan.
For waterfront property, recent listings
in Niagara Falls included a three-bedroom home backing onto Lyons Creek and priced at $399,900.
A three-bedroom renovated brick bungalow on the Niagara River Parkway, with
great river views, was priced at $449,900. At the top end, a mansion just up
the river parkway, boasting 200 feet of waterfront and a pool, was listed at
$3,799,000.