Save Ferris

By Shannon in News on Jan 13, 2007 7:00PM

Winter heralds a kind of hibernation in Chicago. Present balmy weather excepted, the colder temps discourage the usual plans that would be a great idea in spring or summer. Citizens hunker down in their radiator-kissed apartments, ignoring the world at large outside. That's why now is the perfect time to shut down the Ferris wheel at Navy Pier for maintenance and repairs.

Before the end of January, the 150-foot whirling dervish will wind down until around mid-March, barring any upgrade catastrophes or price overruns. The Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority (aka McPier - a fitting nickname for the fast food-entertainment isle of Streeterville) has deemed the 11-year-old wheel's spreader bars, the bars betwixt the spokes, fit for replacement to the tune of $500,000. From our own personal experience visiting the Pier in an exceptionally cold May, with the wind biting our faces, we can't imagine going 150 feet in the air on Lake Michigan in the middle of winter. We even surmised that hey, it's this cold, all the employees seem to be sleeping in their kiosks, we couldn't even get a churro if we wanted one ... the Ferris wheel must be closed, too. Good timing, we say.

What we also say is, what happened to those magnificent plans to really upgrade the wheel? Make it like the Ferris wheel of yore, in the 1893 Columbian Exposition days, along with all the other high-falutin' shit they were considering? McPier was mum on the subject. While we'd love to see a gigantic throwback to the old amusement era (though it'd be wasted on the yokels), since this pricey reno has been given the go-ahead, we doubt anything's going to be overhauled soon.

Image courtesy of e.q.