Tag Archives: Jay Cochrane

Wirewalker Jay Cochrane stands atop the Hilton Hotel

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Cochrane always a class act!!

Corey Larocque

By Corey Larocque, Niagara Falls Review

 

Wirewalker Jay Cochrane stands atop the Hilton Hotel in Niagara Falls with the Skylon Tower in the background in this 2012 file photo. (MIKE DIBATTISTA/NIAGARA FALLS REVIEW/QMI AGENCY)

Wirewalker Jay Cochrane stands atop the Hilton Hotel in Niagara Falls with the Skylon Tower in the background in this 2012 file photo. (MIKE DIBATTISTA/NIAGARA News

“Just a note aside, I had the pleasure of viewing Jay Cochrane live in Niagara Falls, what a showman”!!  Maria Rekrut

Jay Cochrane, the highwire performer known as the Prince of the Air, was a great friend to Niagara Falls over the years. News of his death Wednesday saddened a town he came to love and whose people came to love him – even though, by many accounts, he was a difficult man to get to know.

Since 2002, Cochrane’s blue, sequined jumpsuit and platinum blonde hair, were fixtures in Niagara Falls. He was a colourful entertainer who constantly pushed the boundaries of his art to new heights. In the summer of 2012, he thrilled spectators daily by walking a tightrope from the top of the Skylon Tower to the rooftop of the Hilton hotel.

When news broke that he lost his battle to cancer at the age of 69, it prompted a well deserved outpouring of tributes from the thousands of people who witnessed his hundreds of highwire performances or who dealt with him through the children’s charities for whom he devotedly raised money.

Journalists at The Review who interviewed and photographed him over the years got to know him as the consummate professional. Charming, but aloof. A brilliant showman despite some eccentricities. (The trumpet fanfare from the Superman theme song announced he was about to begin his show).

He adopted us. And we embraced him. He didn’t just breeze into town for a one-night stand and then move on to the next spectacle.

He’ll always be one of the lingering “what-ifs” in Niagara Falls history. What if the Niagara Parks Commission had dropped its longstanding opposition to stunting when Cochrane asked 10 years ago, instead of when Nik Wallenda got the green light in 2012?

But Cochrane has earned a rightful place in the legion of endearing colourful characters whose exploits make Niagara Falls history the thrilling, unique place it is.

Where else but in Niagara Falls could you look 750 feet up in the sky, see a man walking a tightrope between two skyscrapers and say, “Oh yeah, that’s Jay… It must be 7 o’clock.”

He was so good you could set your watch to his performances. He often said he had to be perfect in his line of work.

Cochrane was a class act, a thrill to watch and a delight to know.

Corey Larocque

NIAGARA FALLS – 2012- SKYWALK

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Skywalk 2012 Press Release

Jay Cochrane above Niagara Falls nears the top of The Skylon Tower in 2005
Jay Cochrane above Niagara Falls nears the top of The Skylon Tower in 2005

June 18, 2012 (Niagara Falls) – In an awe-inspiring event, Jay Cochrane, Canada’s Prince of the Air, continues the “Summer of Skywalks” in the Niagara region.

Beginning June 29th, Skywalk 2012 will cross a 400 m (quarter mile) distance over 50-stories in the sky as Jay Cochrane performs the greatest building-to-building skywalk in North American history for twelve weeks in Niagara Falls, Canada.

Sponsored by The Tourism Partnership of Niagara and presented by the Fallsview BIA, Skywalk 2012 puts Cochrane into a league of his own. Jay’s highwire will extend 340 m (1,300 feet) from the top of the Niagara Fallsview Hilton Hotel North Tower at a height of 177 m (581 feet) to the top of the Skylon Tower at a height of 160 m (520 feet) in the heart of Niagara Falls.

Cochrane will walk the wire daily at 7 p.m. (weather permitting), traveling a distance well over 20 miles (30 kilometers) between the two structures in his 88 scheduled performances.

Jay Cochrane and the Niagara region have a long and storied history.

In 2005, the “Skylon Tower Skywalk” (see video by clicking here) began atop the 32-story, 110 m (364 feet)Niagara Fallsview Casino, traversing a distance of 380 m (1,250 feet), and finished atop the Skylon Tower at a height of 160 m (520 feet). Jay’s performance was astounding, set to music as he talked to the crowd below, giving the spectators a first-hand experience of what it is like to be on the wire.

Skywalk 2012 performances will be both higher and longer, and once again, Jay will interact with the viewers from above.

“Niagara Falls is the premier venue in the world for Skywalk 2012,” said Cochrane. “This walk approaches the grandeur of my Great China Skywalk across Qutang Gorge above the Yangtze River. I’m excited to give a spectacular performance that will draw attention to my home country of Canada and inspire people to visit Niagara.”

In addition to being home to Niagara Falls, one of the world’s most stunning natural wonders, Niagara Canada offers visitors a host of smaller treasures that inspire on a completely different level. With dozens of wineries, golf courses and heritage sites, endless recreational trails and Great Lake shorelines, world-class dining and theatre, as well as casino excitement, Niagara was recently named Trip Advisor’s #1 Family Holiday destination in Canada. Visit visitniagaracanada.com for trip ideas and special offers to watch Jay’s record breaking Summer of Skywalks.

The “highway in the sky” for Skywalk 2012 will be a part of the skyline for weeks prior to Cochrane’s first performance on June 29, 2012, visible from numerous Niagara attractions and as far away as Buffalo, NY, and St. Catharines, Ontario.

The opening performance of Skywalk 2012 will include two special receptions to meet Jay Cochrane for autographs and photographs at both the Skylon Tower and the Niagara Fallsview Hilton Hotel.

There will be additional opportunities to meet Jay at festivals and events across the Niagara region this summer. Jay will be making appearances with the “Wirewalking Experience,” a mobile wire set a foot off the ground to allow media, special guest and the public to try to walk on the same wire he is walking in the sky. Locations include: Fort Erie Friendship Festival (June 29 to July 2) and Canal Days (August 3-6). Check visitniagaracanada.com for details.

Jay Cochrane is the premier skywalker in the world. Cochrane’s popularity was cemented in 1995 by The Great China Skywalk in Qutang Gorge, viewed in-person by an audience of 250,000, in addition to live China TV coverage viewed in the PRC and around the world by an estimated one-billion people. Jay’s skywalk stretched 2,098 feet (639m) over the Yangtze River at a height of 1,340 feet (408m), the highest and longest highwire walk ever completed.

Jay holds World Records for the longest building-to-building skywalk; longest and highest BLINDFOLDED skywalk; longest and highest nighttime building-to-building skywalk; longest and highest combined skywalk; longest time living on a wire; and the farthest cumulative distance traversed on a highwire.

During the length of the performance schedule, Cochrane will pass several milestones for cumulative distance on a single wire, with celebrations to match. Niagara is your adventure vacation destination during the Summer of Skywalks.