ON THE WATERFRONT: A new plaque unveiled last week in Niagara-on-the-Lake commemorates all those swimmers who succeeded in making it across Lake Ontario.

There was a plague placed near the Gazebo at Queen’s Royal Park (visible from Old Fort Niagara) but it had run out of space for new names.

Vicki Keith, the “Queen of the Lake,” has made the swim five times. She also swam every Great Lake one summer and the English Channel and holds 16 world records in marathon swimming. She now coaches a swim team for kids with physical disabilities.

Marilyn Bell, then 16 years old, made the 32-mile crossing in record time in 1954, on the same night that champion swimmer Florence Chadwick dropped out of the marathon sponsored by the Canadian National Exhibition.

Bell started from the U.S. Coast Guard Station, Youngstown, which in the post-9-11 era is off limits to any such activity.

via GLYNN: Outlook for cities called gloomy » Opinion » Niagara Gazette.