NIAGARA FALLS, N.Y. — Richard Baker, 57, and Kenneth Greenleaf, 45, were eating a meal at The Western Door steak house when some fellow diners approached. “Can we ask,” they said, “Are you getting married?”
Baker hesitated, worrying that he might offend residents of this blue-collar town. But he soon found out how wrong he was.
“When I said ‘Yes,’ they said, ‘Congratulations. It’s about time,’ ” Baker said. “People here are more worried about filling the gas tank and the refrigerator than if two people of the same sex can get married. We will come back, for sure.”
Baker and Greenleaf and 45 other same-sex couples married yesterday in a group ceremony on Goat Island, which lies between the U.S. and Canadian falls. Sunday was the first day same-sex couples could marry in the state of New York, following passage of legislation a month earlier.
“What this has really given us is a shot in the arm,” said John Percy, whose Niagara Tourism and Convention Corp. championed the event. “This is a way to rejuvenate the idea that this is the honeymoon capital of the world.”
Selling same-sex couples to Niagara Falls, however, is trickier than simply waving the pink dollar, as the purchasing power of the gay community is sometimes termed.
Mayor Paul Dyster, who is finishing his first term and aiming for a November re-election, is hyper-aware of his Catholic and Baptist constituents who do not support gay marriage, like the group of churchgoers who showed up yesterday in protest.
“We’re not promoting same-sex marriage,” the mayor clarified. “We’re promoting the area as a place where same-sex couples can get married. That’s an important distinction.”
The nonprofit Niagara Tourism and Convention Corp., planned the group wedding to kick off a substantial marketing effort aimed at enticing same-sex couples to marry there.
So during a drizzly half-hour ceremony overlooking the brink of the American and Bridal Veil Falls, the couples from New York, Missouri, Pennsylvania and Ohio, danced, cheered and cried. Many of the pairs even dressed alike.
Robert and Hunter Wolfe donned the yellow leather bodysuits they wear to ride their Suzuki GSXR 750 motorcycle, since, as Hunter explained, “it’s the only thing we have that matches.”
Under a big white tent a horseshoe’s throw away from the Horseshoe Falls, couples sampled wedding cake and champagne. A white horse-drawn carriage waited nearby to whisk away the newlyweds.
Celebrated in 19th century art and poetry, and crowned the Honeymoon Capital of the World by the 1953 Marilyn Monroe movie “Niagara,” the area these days has lost some of its cachet.
The city today almost seems to lack an identity. Save for a few chain hotels and the casino, Niagara Falls is comprised mostly of shuttered homes and factories — and empty space. The massive modern glass cube that dominates the skyline — the former Occidental Chemical Corp. headquarters — is empty except for a trinket shop and an Indian restaurant.
In 1960, the population numbered 115,000. Today it’s 50,000. Each year, about 8.5 million people arrive to view the 176-foot cascades, but then they leave.
Still, Baker and Greenleaf chose to stay at the Sheraton at the Falls on the U.S. side, despite its desolate look as compared with the boutique hotels and theme restaurants across the border. “Of course we were going to stay on the American side,” Greenleaf said. “They gave us the right to marry. We’re going to give them some money.” During their three-night trip, the couple managed to hike the park, dine at the Hard Rock Cafe and play slots at the casino.
Sam Stern, 43, who married Bill Knight, 48, both in hot-pink shirts and ties, recalled that his parents had eloped and married at Niagara Falls in 1960. “I’ve seen the pictures of them in the large round restaurant up on the hill,” he said. “Everything is whitewashed and it’s very glamorous.”
That glamour is gone now, and Stern knows it. “When you’re going to go on a vacation, you want something more than a park,” he said, adding that he might honeymoon with Knight in Las Vegas.
For their part, Brad Wolf, 40, and Phil Webb, 40, of Kansas City, Mo., stayed in a bed and breakfast on the Canadian side. “Everyone said the best views are on the Canadian side,” Wolf said sheepishly.
Yet the U.S. town’s resurgence might be encouraged by plans for a culinary school and restaurant, plus a concert center and wine bar. Local florists, bakeries, photographers, and deejay companies donated their services to yesterday’s ceremony.
“The community has been increasingly supportive,” Percy said. ”They’re seeing that all dollars are green.”
Kayleen.Schaefer@thedaily.com
Baker hesitated, worrying that he might offend residents of this blue-collar town. But he soon found out how wrong he was.
“When I said ‘Yes,’ they said, ‘Congratulations. It’s about time,’ ” Baker said. “People here are more worried about filling the gas tank and the refrigerator than if two people of the same sex can get married. We will come back, for sure.”
Baker and Greenleaf and 45 other same-sex couples married yesterday in a group ceremony on Goat Island, which lies between the U.S. and Canadian falls. Sunday was the first day same-sex couples could marry in the state of New York, following passage of legislation a month earlier.
“What this has really given us is a shot in the arm,” said John Percy, whose Niagara Tourism and Convention Corp. championed the event. “This is a way to rejuvenate the idea that this is the honeymoon capital of the world.”
Selling same-sex couples to Niagara Falls, however, is trickier than simply waving the pink dollar, as the purchasing power of the gay community is sometimes termed.
Mayor Paul Dyster, who is finishing his first term and aiming for a November re-election, is hyper-aware of his Catholic and Baptist constituents who do not support gay marriage, like the group of churchgoers who showed up yesterday in protest.
“We’re not promoting same-sex marriage,” the mayor clarified. “We’re promoting the area as a place where same-sex couples can get married. That’s an important distinction.”
The nonprofit Niagara Tourism and Convention Corp., planned the group wedding to kick off a substantial marketing effort aimed at enticing same-sex couples to marry there.
So during a drizzly half-hour ceremony overlooking the brink of the American and Bridal Veil Falls, the couples from New York, Missouri, Pennsylvania and Ohio, danced, cheered and cried. Many of the pairs even dressed alike.
Robert and Hunter Wolfe donned the yellow leather bodysuits they wear to ride their Suzuki GSXR 750 motorcycle, since, as Hunter explained, “it’s the only thing we have that matches.”
Under a big white tent a horseshoe’s throw away from the Horseshoe Falls, couples sampled wedding cake and champagne. A white horse-drawn carriage waited nearby to whisk away the newlyweds.
Celebrated in 19th century art and poetry, and crowned the Honeymoon Capital of the World by the 1953 Marilyn Monroe movie “Niagara,” the area these days has lost some of its cachet.
The city today almost seems to lack an identity. Save for a few chain hotels and the casino, Niagara Falls is comprised mostly of shuttered homes and factories — and empty space. The massive modern glass cube that dominates the skyline — the former Occidental Chemical Corp. headquarters — is empty except for a trinket shop and an Indian restaurant.
In 1960, the population numbered 115,000. Today it’s 50,000. Each year, about 8.5 million people arrive to view the 176-foot cascades, but then they leave.
Still, Baker and Greenleaf chose to stay at the Sheraton at the Falls on the U.S. side, despite its desolate look as compared with the boutique hotels and theme restaurants across the border. “Of course we were going to stay on the American side,” Greenleaf said. “They gave us the right to marry. We’re going to give them some money.” During their three-night trip, the couple managed to hike the park, dine at the Hard Rock Cafe and play slots at the casino.
Sam Stern, 43, who married Bill Knight, 48, both in hot-pink shirts and ties, recalled that his parents had eloped and married at Niagara Falls in 1960. “I’ve seen the pictures of them in the large round restaurant up on the hill,” he said. “Everything is whitewashed and it’s very glamorous.”
That glamour is gone now, and Stern knows it. “When you’re going to go on a vacation, you want something more than a park,” he said, adding that he might honeymoon with Knight in Las Vegas.
For their part, Brad Wolf, 40, and Phil Webb, 40, of Kansas City, Mo., stayed in a bed and breakfast on the Canadian side. “Everyone said the best views are on the Canadian side,” Wolf said sheepishly.
Yet the U.S. town’s resurgence might be encouraged by plans for a culinary school and restaurant, plus a concert center and wine bar. Local florists, bakeries, photographers, and deejay companies donated their services to yesterday’s ceremony.
“The community has been increasingly supportive,” Percy said. ”They’re seeing that all dollars are green.”
Kayleen.Schaefer@thedaily.com
