NIAGARA FALLS -- Though Maid of the Mist boats have been taking tourists to the base of Niagara Falls for 126 consecutive years, their future on the American and Canadian sides of the cataracts remains uncertain.

In six weeks, the tourism company will find out if it can continue those tours, or whether the Canadian government will award a 25-year lease to another company with different ideas for the real estate around the cataracts.

"We're still in the review process," interim Niagara Parks Commission Chairwoman Janice Thomson said Tuesday.

The commission has held a tight grip on information about the much-anticipated bidding process, but its looming decision raises many questions, including:

* Will tourists still experience the signature boat ride to the base of the falls, or will that format be replaced by, say, dinner cruises?

* Could the Maid of the Mist continue to operate only on the American side, despite boat-storage and docking challenges?

* If a different company signs a lease, can it legally call its ride the Maid of the Mist?

* Will anything change by the summer tourist season?

The government had hoped to make a decision by the end of 2011, but it needs five or six more weeks, Thomson said, declining to say whether the decision would affect this summer's tourist season.

A panel is reviewing bids for the launching rights around the falls that were submitted in February. Its recommendation will be reviewed by the Parks Commission's board and sent to Ontario Tourism Minister Michael Chan for approval.

The decision will have repercussions on both sides of the border. Christopher M. Glynn, Maid of the Mist president, and his family own the Canadian Maid of the Mist Steamboat Co., which has held a contract to lease land on the Ontario shore with no competition for more than a century.

The Canadian lease, now a month-to-month agreement, was called into question by a former Niagara Parks commissioner because the launching rights were never put out to bid. The Parks Commission had never met publicly before 2010, and a political firestorm threw open the bidding process last year.

The company's American counterpart, Maid of the Mist Corp., also owned by the Glynn family, holds a separate 40-year lease with the state Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation to operate boat tours on the American side.

It's uncertain how the Maid of the Mist's American operations would be affected if it loses out on the Canadian lease, though some have noted that the company's boats are stored on the Canadian side and the land on the American side is less adaptable to permanent operations.

The Glynns have also filed trademarks for sole use of the "Maid of the Mist" name.

The Parks Commission has refused to say which companies made proposals. Thirteen companies had registered to submit proposals in August 2010, though Thomson would not say Tuesday how many companies submitted bids.

The Parks Commission required the companies' staff to sign nondisclosure agreements to prevent them from speaking to the media about their lease proposals.

"It's very thorough. It's a very complex process," Thomson said. "We're taking the time we need to to make sure it's done thoroughly."

Tourism officials are watching the process closely.

"The Maid of the Mist name, when we travel and promote Niagara Falls, their name is so synonymous with Niagara Falls, and sometimes their brand is almost stronger than [the] Niagara Falls brand," Niagara Tourism & Convention Corp. President John Percy has said. "It's an institution, and a solid product within our hospitality community."

cspecht@buffnews.comnull