NIAGARA FALLS, N.Y. (WKBW) — June 15, 2012 is a special date in Niagara Falls. It's the day Nik Wallenda was suspended hundreds of feet in the air for half an hour as he walked across the gorge in a must-see moment.
10 years later, he's back. Wallenda will be honored for his accomplishment by both Mayor Restaino and NYS Senator Robert Ortt. There will also be a major announcement during this event at 11am.
"It is sort of surreal, it was a dream to come true and something I worked on a lot of my life," said Wallenda.
How it started vs. how it’s going pic.twitter.com/UCWIfopPU7
— Taylor Epps (@taylor_epps_) June 15, 2022
Niagara Falls means a lot to him. As a child he first had the idea to make the trip across the falls. The daredevil and aerialist comes from a family of performers, so he was shocked no one's done it before.
Since then he's walked over an active volcano and the Grand Canyon and has broken 11 Guinness World Records, but this was the start of it all.
"It's at the apex of my career for sure, that walk live on ABC launched my career today," said Wallenda.
And that's why he wants to give back to the Falls. He estimates his walk brought about $100 million worth of tourism to Niagara Falls.
"It was a commercial to the world, we need more of that. We need people to come over here, they're all going over to Canada...we need it for our region, we need the funds on this side of the country," said Wallenda.
