Ferris Wheel Day

Today (February 14, 2022) is National Ferris Wheel Day.

I have two memories of Ferris wheels:

1. I remember the time when I was a kid attending the St. Rocco's Feast in Glen Cove, Long Island, New York, in the early 1970s, when I was around ten years old. That was the church of many of my maternal family members. I went on the Ferris wheel with my cousin Phil and his wife Jacqueline. I was seated between them. The wheel stopped when we were at the top. Phil started rocking the seat back and forth, and laughing. Jacqueline screamed, "Phil, stop it." I was a little scared, but I was laughing, too. That is a fond memory from my childhood.

2. I remember the time when my wife and I took a ride on the giant Ferris wheel called the Wiener Riesenrad at the Prater amusement park in Vienna, Austria. You could see all of Vienna and beyond from the top. It had compartments that could hold many people, but I think they only allowed about twenty people in each for safety. It's 64.75 meters (212 feet) tall and has half as many compartments as it did when it was constructed in 1897. The removal of half of the compartments was also for safety. It was the world's tallest extant Ferris wheel from 1920 until 1985.