PITTSBURGH - On Saturday at 10 a.m., Luke Ravenstahl will become the first sitting Mayor in Pittsburgh history to attempt a highwire walk across Seventh Avenue without a net. A wire has been positioned thirty-eight stories above street level between the Gulf Tower and the Koppers Building. More than 100,000 spectators are expected to line the street, which will be closed to traffic. Ravenstahl vows to make the walk, "high winds or no."
Ravenstahl comes from a family of stunt and daredevil performers known around the world as The Flying Ravenstahls. Circus magnate John Ringling discovered the mayor's grandfather, Karl, in Germany in 1928 when he was being shot out of a cannon by neighbors "just to pass the time." Ringling brought him to the United States and made him a star attraction in the Ringling Brothers' Circus.
Ravenstahl is not Pittsburgh's first daredevil mayor. Former Mayor Sophie Masloff successfully made the identical walk in 2000 at the age of 82, but she was not a sitting mayor at the time. The only sitting Mayor to attempt the walk, David Lawrence, did so in 1958, but with the benefit of a safety net. Lucky for him: Lawrence fell and broke his ankle, even with a net. Although Mayor Pete Flaherty never attempted a highwire walk, he did successfully complete a motorcycle jump across the Monongahela River in 1972.
