Totes McGoats: A Recent Chapter of the Timeless Weirdness of Niagara Falls
Hustlers and Sideshow Magic
Niagara Falls has always been a little strange. Long before Instagram selfies at the railings, this place drew daredevils in barrels, tightrope walkers balancing above the gorge, and hustlers selling miracle elixirs to wide-eyed tourists. Some of that weirdness feels antique now, a relic of the 19th-century circus-like atmosphere. But some of it is recent—proof that the Falls still attracts (and creates) oddities that stick in your memory.
For much of its history, the Falls wasn’t just a natural wonder—it was a stage. Audiences came not only for the thunder of water but for the human drama playing out around it. In the mid-1800s, The Great Blondin walked a rope stretched across the gorge while carrying his manager on his back, pausing midway to cook an omelet over a portable stove. Annie Taylor, a schoolteacher seeking fame and fortune, became the first person to go over the Horseshoe Falls in a barrel—and survived. Others weren’t so lucky, but the spectacle drew crowds anyway, thousands gathering on the riverbanks to watch human beings tempt fate.
And then there were the hustlers: peddlers selling bottles of “Niagara River water,” pitchmen hawking miracle cures said to capture the Falls’ energy, showmen offering peep-show views of the cataract through tinted glass. Niagara wasn’t just a place to look at—it was a place to be dazzled, to be conned, to be shocked, to see something you’d never forget.
Weirdness That Never Went Away
That instinct toward spectacle hasn’t gone away. Today, you still find it in the neon wax museums, the haunted houses on Clifton Hill, Frankenstein devouring a Whopper above a Burger King, and Ripley’s inviting you to marvel at the bizarre. Even Totes McGoats, the recycling mascot with his giant goat head and plastic-bin torso, feels like part of the same lineage—an earnest but eccentric reminder that Niagara never loses its taste for the strange.
In Niagara Falls, the water is constant, ancient, eternal. But everything around it—the stunts, the sideshows, the gimmicks, the mascots—is a rolling carnival, forever inventing new ways to make the weird unforgettable.
The Birth of Totes McGoats
“Totes McGoats” itself is a nonsensical, cutesy slang phrase meaning “totally!” or “totally awesome!” Popularized by the 2009 movie I Love You, Man, it comes from the contraction “totes” for “totally,” paired with a rhyming, silly suffix. In short, it’s playful, goofy enthusiasm. So perhaps it was inevitable that Niagara Falls would turn that phrase into something even stranger.
Back in 2014, the city rolled out a recycling mascot: Totes McGoats, a giant, human-sized goat with a plastic bin for a body, floppy ears, and an unshakable grin. The goal was simple and good-natured—to raise awareness about recycling and get people thinking about their trash. The campaign was so wonderfully odd that John Oliver featured it on Last Week Tonight, calling Totes both unforgettable and bizarre.
And you know what? We love the people who dreamed him up. It takes a certain kind of creativity—call it Niagara Falls creativity—to try something this unusual. The same streak of inventiveness that once inspired daredevils, magicians, and neon carnival sideshows still runs through this place today.
Is He Still Lurking?
Old Totes McGoats’ mask might be long gone, but sometimes you wonder—is McGoats still lurking in the park?
When people talk about Niagara Falls, they often mean the water: that roar, that spray, that endless cascade. But those who really know the Falls know it’s also about the weirdness—the good, the goofy, the unforgettable. From the stunts of a century ago to Totes McGoats just a few years back, Niagara Falls has always embraced the strange.
Because here, the thunder of the Falls isn’t the only thing that stays with you. Sometimes, it’s a smiling goat in a recycling bin.
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