Daredevils come to downtown fest
Rob Hergott
Published on
Aug 15, 2008
Daredevil extraordinaire Gene Sullivan will be part of this weekend's Daredevil Days busker festival on Queen Street.
The stunt man and member of Team Jesus will be entertaining the crowd by jumping from ramp to ramp and through a wall of fire on his Honda XR650 motorcycle on Park Street three times during the festival.
"It is going to be a great jump, performed by one of the best," said Shane Sargant, executive director of Celebrate Old Downtown.
Sullivan, a former bodyguard of Evel Knievel, is the oldest motorcycle daredevil in the world. But now he doesn't jump his motorcycle for records or fame: he jumps for a different cause.
"I jump for a cause, to spread the word of Jesus," said Sullivan.
Sullivan said he wants to be a part of revitalization project on Queen Street and feels it's a great way to bring people into the community.
"We need to keep some of our past in front of us, it would be a terrible thing if the younger generation didn't see any of the old," said Sullivan.
Sullivan also said he felt privileged and surprised when he was asked to perform. "I was pretty excited. But because of the liability factor and all that stuff, most cities won't even attempt this sort of stuff," he said.
"It's pretty unique, and being it's the first annual I wanted to be a part of it."
This weekend's three-day festival will also include music, food, games and daredevils for the whole family.
On Friday, local bands such as The Broken Lyre (7 p.m.- 8 p.m.), The Waxbills (8:20 p.m-9:20 p.m.) and The Anti-Q's (9:40 p.m.) will be performing.
On Saturday, guests will be able to experience all sorts of different bands starting at 12:30 p.m. and running till 10:50 p.m. and this will include some classic hits from Ian Mitchell of The Bay City Rollers and Terry Sylvester of The Hollies. There will also be music on Sunday from 1 p.m until 6 p.m.