Wallenda Walk focus of downtown street party on June 15

Nik Wallenda kneels on the wire between One Watergate and the Ritz-Carlton during his famed Sarasota walk in February 2010. Photo by Norman Schimmel

Paul Mattison, executive chef and proprietor of Mattison’s, and Pedro Reis, CEO of Circus Sarasota, will host a fundraising street party Friday, June 15, with the theme, “Above the Falls & Beyond Belief … Celebrating the Wallenda Walk over Niagara Falls with Mattison’s and Circus Sarasota.”

The event will be held from 6 p.m. to midnight at Mattison’s City Grille and on Lemon Avenue between Main Street and First Street. The focus for the party will be aerialist Nik Wallenda’s walk across Niagara Falls, broadcast live on ABC7 via a Jumbotron video screen.

The street party, which will be free and open to the public, also will feature a variety of performances by international circus artists and youth performers from the Sailor Circus, according to a press release from Circus Sarasota.

The event will include hands-on, family-friendly circus activities: balloon making, face painting, Hula Hoops, jugglers, tightrope walking, a raffle (including a private dinner for eight with special guests Nik and Erendira Wallenda) and prizes.

For more information, call 921-3400 or visit www.mattisons.com.