A giant Ferris wheel is coming to the State Fair

The Great Big Wheel
The Great Big Wheel, a giant Ferris wheel, is headed to the Minnesota State Fair this year.
Courtesy of Minnesota State Fair

The Minnesota State Fair will announce Friday that it is bringing one of the tallest Ferris wheels in North America to this year's Great Minnesota Get-Together.

The wheel, made in the Netherlands, is 15 stories tall and has 36 enclosed gondolas that hold six passengers each. The wheel also has more than a half-million LED lights that can be lit in thousands of designs and colors. It takes 12 trailers to move the attraction from fair to fair.

The so-called Great Big Wheel is scheduled to be set up at the corner of Randall Avenue and Cooper Street, on the fair's north end.

Rides will be $5 each, and the wheel will run from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily for the fair's 12-day run. Riders will have to be 42 inches tall to ride by themselves, or 36 inches tall to ride with an adult.

The State Fair opens Aug. 24 and runs through Sept. 4.

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