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The Ferris wheel, modeled after the one built for the 1893
World's Columbian Exposition, also known as the Chicago World's
Fair, can hold 240 passengers on 40 gondolas.
The wheel is going to The Track Family Fun Parks in the
tourist-friendly town of Branson, Missouri, swapping a view of
Lake Michigan for one of the Ozark Mountains, said Track Chief
Executive Craig Wescott.
Branson officials approved the wheel, 50 feet (15.2 m) taller
than the city's 100-foot (30.5 m) height limit for structures,
on Thursday night.
Wescott said trucks will carry the disassembled wheel to Branson
next month, and it will be ready by Memorial Day at a cost of
$2.5 million.
"This is oversimplified, but it's like a big Erector Set," said
Wescott, referring to the children's building toy.
Chicago is building a new 196-foot-tall (60 m) Ferris wheel on
Navy Pier this year, a popular multi-use tourist attraction
which is celebrating its 100th anniversary.
There has been a boom in city observation Ferris wheels in the
last few decades, including the 443-foot London Eye (135 m)
unveiled in 1999; the 525-foot Star of Nanchang in China (160 m)
put up in 2006, and the 550-foot High Roller (168 m) in Las
Vegas in 2014.
Coincidentally, the original 1893 Chicago wheel, built by
engineer George Ferris, also was taken to Missouri and featured
at the 1904 World's Fair in St. Louis. It was later demolished.
(Editing by Bernadette Baum)
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