In Memory of Henry Muller

From HoudiniMuseum.org Henry Muller, cofounder of the Houdini Magical Hall of Fame, a public museum and tourist attraction operated in Niagara Falls, Canada, from 1968 to 1995, died on Feb. 28 in Hamilton, Ontario. He was 86 years old. Here’s Henry’s official obituary, reproduced from YourLifeMoments…

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Hope for shuttered Hotel Niagara

From the Niagara Gazette: If the building’s owner has his way, an historic hotel that has languished for years in downtown Niagara Falls will be reopened by next summer. Hamilton, Ont., developer Harry Stinson said Monday design work on his plan for a new-look Hotel Niagara is nearly completed and he’s expecting interior demolition to…

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Whale of a police escort for U.S.-bound killer whale

From the Toronto Star: Ikaika the killer whale was escorted out of the country in a procession worthy of a head of state. A witness said he counted at least 14 Niagara Regional Police cruisers, with lights flashing, two transport trucks and a crane slowly escorting the 9-year-old male orca from Marineland toward Hamilton airport…

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Marineland’s last-ditch effort to get injunction to keep killer whale fails

From the Niagara Falls Review: Lawyers for Marineland hoped an 11th hour temporary injunction would block the return of one of its two killer whales to SeaWorld Friday. The injunction, however, was denied by a U.S. district court judge and that led to the dramatic transport of the 1,815-kilogram killer whale Ikaika Saturday night. More…

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Magic show preview: The trick to a good magic show

This isn’t specifically Niagara Falls-related, but it does pertain to Greg Frewin, so I figured I’d include it. Besides, it has some nice background information about him. From Canada.com: Greg Frewin got his first magic kit when he was seven years old. It was nothing fancy, just a bunch of simple magic tricks, a magic…

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Auction of former Hotel Niagara goes to Vancouver bidder for $1.25 million

From the Buffalo News: A 30-year-old Vancouver man placed the winning $1.25 million bid for the former Hotel Niagara at an auction Tuesday. Jamil Kara said he plans to turn the 12-story building at Rainbow Boulevard and First Street downtown into a boutique hotel and condominiums. Kara, who was one of 10 qualified bidders, said…

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New tourism boss dons ‘the crown jewel’

From the Niagara Falls Review: There’s a new captain at the helm of Niagara Falls Tourism. And he’s no stranger to stormy seas. Joe Fardell, the agency’s new managing director, has come full circle in his 25-year career, having started working for a charter bus operator here in the mid 1980s. Originally from Hamilton, Fardell…

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Barrels used by daredevils on display in Niagara Falls exhibit

From the Canadian Press (via Yahoo! Canada Travel): Twenty-five years after stuntman Karel Soucek survived his trip over Niagara Falls in a barrel, a new exhibit highlights the daredevils who have been drawn to the site. Soucek, from Hamilton, suffered only minor injuries in his plunge on July 2, 1984. He died, however, about six…

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