Mini Ferris Wheel Traps Eight Mini People

By Andrew Peerless in News on Aug 8, 2005 1:38PM

This is Dick.
See Dick go to the annual Northbrook Days Festival.
See Dick board the 12-foot-tall miniature Ferris Wheel.
See Dick soar high in the air.
See the miniature Ferris Wheel's leveling mechanism malfunction.
See Dick's Ferris Wheel car flip upside down.
See Dick cry. Cry, Dick, cry.
See firefighters rescue Dick and his companions from the Ferris Wheel of doom.

We know, it sounds like a scene plucked straight from a Lifetime movie (Tonight, one mother's desperate quest to save her child from the grips of an engineering catastrophe...), but worry not: In this particular heart-wrenching production, Meredith Baxter Birney would have found that her child - and all the others on board the malfunctioning ride - a bit shaken but totally unharmed. The eight unfortunate tykes, ranging in age from 2 to 4, did hang upside down for roughly 15 minutes while members of the Northbrook Fire Department (who were already on the scene when the malfunction occurred) arranged their rescue. Tears were understandably plentiful, but that's better than injuries in Chicagoist's book.

In any case, the ride was shuttered for the rest of the festival, pending an inspection.

And now... see Dick's entire adult life plagued by a crippling fear of heights and carnivals.