Navy Pier Says Goodbye to Ferris Wheel
Navy Pier's Ferris Wheel took it's last ride Sunday night after 20 years of spinning. The structure will be replaced by a new wheel in mid-2016.
30,000 people lined up on the Pier throughout the weekend to take one last ride on the wheel, including local celebrities and Mayor Rahm Emanuel.
The installation of the new Ferris wheel coincides with a revitalization of Navy Pier and its centennial anniversary in 2016. The new wheel will stand at 196 feet — almost 50 feet higher than the old Ferris wheel though still shorter than the original Ferris wheel built for the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago — and will be able to hold eight adults and two children in each of its 42 temperature-controlled gondolas, officials said.
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