The annual Winter Festival of Lights in Niagara Falls, Canada is a highlight of the amazing Niagara Falls area. Every year, this festival begins in early November and continues until the beginning of January of the next year. Typically, the festival begins daily at 5 p.m. and usually concludes around midnight. The annual Winter Festival of Lights is celebrated as Canada’s largest light festival of the year.

The festival includes amazing, uniquely large landscaping lightings and numerous, large sculptures made of trees, other objects, signs, and most importantly lights.

Although there is no admission fee, donations are accepted. The suggested donation for entering the Winter Festival of Lights is approximately $10 per car. The money collected at the WFOL is used to enhance and enlarge the next year’s festival.

The festival includes around 125 animated lighted displays and over 3 million tree and ground lights. At the festival, the largest, illuminated Canadian-American flag is present. The festival takes place along Niagara Parkway.

Local artist, Anna Kovacevic has been painting scenic vistas of the majestic Horseshoe Falls for over 20 years in her home town Niagara Falls, where her realistic acrylic paintings have been admired and shared in the tourism industry. In the winter months when the tourism slows, Ms. Kovacevic spends her off hours producing and capturing beautiful natural scenery of the Niagara Parks and Falls.

Anna Kovacevic brings with her a lifetime of landscape painting experience passed down to her by her father a notable Croatian painter. After moving to Niagara Falls in the early 1970′s, Anna began working in the tourism industry as a waitress while creating her original art pieces in the off-season to get through the winter months. “I am always amazed to see the Falls, after seeing it a million times” she says, “I love my Falls and the Parks, it inspires me to create and share it’s beauty”.

Anna’s one-of-a-kind paintings have proven popular with visitors to Niagara Falls, and local art collectors. Her detailed creations can be viewed in some of Niagara’s finest hotels and private collections throughout the Region.

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For over a hundred years, people have been risking their lives to take the death-defying ride over Niagara Falls. On October 24, 1901, the first person to conquer the Falls was Annie Taylor. She used an airtight wooden barrel for the ride of her life. Ms. Taylor survived the journey over the Falls and only suffered minor bruising.

Ten years later, in July of 1911, Bobby Leach threw himself over the falls in a steel barrel. Mr. Leach suffered a worse fate than the previous dare devil; he broke both of his kneecaps and his jaw, but he did live.

Jean Lussier decided to tempt the Falls by riding them down in a rubber ball and survived. On July 5, 1930, George Statakis did make is over and down the falls safely, but died by suffocation due to his barrel being trapped behind the Falls for around fourteen hours.

In 1985, Steven Trotter survived the journey over the Falls in a barrel wrapped tubing; however, he was fined a total of $5,503 for this dare devil act. The first duo to complete the crazy adventure over the Falls included Peter de Bernardi and Jeffery Petkovich.

In 1995, Robert Overcracker overdid himself when he rode a jetski over the Horseshoe Falls to promote awareness for the homeless; however, his parachute did not deploy and he died at the base of the Falls. His body was never recovered.

The last insane ride over the Falls occurred October 22, 2003. Kirk Jones became the first person to survive going over the Falls with only the clothes on his body to protect him. Although he did have minor bruises and bumps, Mr. Jones did suffer a fine of $2,300 and banned from entering Canada ever again.
At 303 Rainbow Boulevard in New York, the Dare Devil Museum showcases the events of the dare deviling of Niagara Falls. Admission to this museum is free. Many of the implements used to go over the Falls are in the museum.

The Horseshoe Falls is the largest of the three large waterfalls that make the grand Niagara Falls. The Horseshoe Falls is located on the Ontario side of the Falls. With an elevation of 500 feet, the Horseshoe Falls is 173 feet high. With a width of 2200 feet, it is said that about 90% of the Niagara River flows over and down the Horseshoe Falls. During the day, approximately 600,000 gallons per second flows over the Horseshoe Falls.

Some of the best views of the Horseshoe Falls are at the Niagara Parkway just south of the Rainbow Bridge, the Skylon Tower, and at Table Rock. Table Rock is often wet from the water drops from the Horseshoe Falls. Often at night, Horseshoe Falls are lit up in multiple colored lights.

The Horseshoe Falls are named for the horseshoe shape crest of the falls. To experience the strength of Horseshoe Falls, visitors can take a boat tour that approaches the base of the falls. This boat tour is called the Maid of the Mist and is a great deal of fun. Caution on the Maid of the Mist: you will get extremely wet. They will even give you a poncho!