Call it the West Allis Eye.
State Fair announced today that the continent’s largest traveling Ferris wheel will be a part of the 2017 State Fair, which runs Aug. 3-13. It’ll be the first time the WonderWheel has spun in Wisconsin.
While admittedly it’s no Vegas High Roller (550 feet) or even London Eye (443 feet), the WonderWheel is a pretty-impressive 155 feet tall, which is especially notable when you consider that this wheel takes to the road on a regular basis.
It’s about the same size as Deno’s Wonder Wheel at Coney Island and the Navy Pier Ferris wheel in Chicago.
Fair-goers will be able to ride in one of the 36 completely enclosed, brightly colored, six-person gondolas for $5. On a clear day it’s estimated that riders will be able to see 10 miles or more. That’s almost to Shorewood, Franklin, St. Francis and Butler, give or take a mile or so.
The rides last about 10 minutes, which means about 1,100 people can ride the beast in a single hour.
Want some stats? The ride – which will be located on the west side of the park, along 84th Street, where the marketplace used to be located (it was torn down) – weighs 400,000 pounds and is adorned with 528,000 LED lights. It will travel to the fair on 11 semi trucks. Wisconsin State Fair is one of only three 2017 stops for the WonderWheel.
Watch this space for more details.
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
