Wallenda Retrospective by E.R. Baxter III

On 15 June 2012, Nik Wallenda walked a high wire over part of the Horseshoe Falls and across the gorge at Niagara. This was the first time in 116 years that an event like this occurred. Law had to be temporarily suspended to permit it. He wore a tether to the wire. Of the dozen or so other Niagara tightrope performers of the 1800’s, just one (Steve Peere), who’d ventured out onto the wire alone and in the dark, wearing street shoes and, speculation has it, while intoxicated, had fallen to his death.

Statistically, there should have been little drama re Wallenda. Of course, he wouldn’t fall to his death. But his walk turned out to be both dramatic and suspenseful. It was the first time any performer had walked though the heavy mists and turbulent gusts of wind in the maw of the Horseshoe–and at night, illuminated by powerful lights that revealed the immense, magical Falls, back dropping one tiny person.

The pronouncements of the delusional aside, ie, “It’ll put Niagara Falls on the map,” and “It goes to show that anything is possible,” what it demonstrated for us, once again, is that desperation rising from a weak economy often leads to the triumph of the carnival over integrity and prior legal decisions that established such entertainment should be set aside in the interest of honoring the natural world. But restaurants, vendors, and others made some extra money during the brief event. (Note: Delaware North charged $146.56 for a late dinner and the viewing point of the Top of the Falls restaurant on Goat Island; political and other dignitaries were sequestered on a separate balcony–whether or not they were paying guests is unclear.)

For weeks many politicians and others had been falling all over themselves in proclaiming the stunt would be a game-changing miracle, while noting they’d helped it happen. The Roman poet, Juvenal, however, from around the time of Christ, had it about right when he characterized such activity as providing “bread and circuses.” In this case, it wasn’t a whole lot of bread and the circus lasted for less than a half hour, but still.

There’s little doubt the event reintroduced the image of Niagara Falls to millions of people around the world — and some believe this has the potential to encourage future visitors. Simultaneously, it more than ever convinced people that a quick fix solution to a competitive tourism market is valid and, therefore, people are likely to have a diminished interest in concepts such as Niagara gorge parkway removal, the restoration of natural landscapes, and the cultivation of a new, regional ecotourism component to a tourism base. That’s too complicated for many people, and just not sexy.

Beyond the aforementioned, what the stunt meant to me personally is that I’ll now be adding Nik Wallenda to the list of other daredevils in my long poem “Looking For Niagara,” which I hope will find a new publisher and be reprinted in a book-length collection titled Niagara Lost and Found: New and Selected Poems. That book will also include a new poem titled “Nik Wallenda Wired For One Night Stand.”

E.R. Baxter III