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August 10, 2023
August
BOONE COUNTY
SENIOR LIVING A MONTHLY FOUR PAGE SECTION FOR SENIORS
This Wheel Continues To Spin To New Heights In the late 1800s, few may have imagined that a civil engineer specializing in bridges & other steel designs would help revolutionize not only the skyline of carnivals & fairs, but summertime entertainment as one knew it. George Washington Ferris, Jr., was not a household name before 1893, but he certainly was afterward. After the Eiffel Tower stretched into the sky for the 1889 World’s Fair, officials in Chicago, which would be hosting the World’s Columbian Exposition in 1893, were looking for something to serve as the hallmark of their event. Organizers announced a competition to design the fair’s centerpiece attraction. Ferris proposed building a 264’ wheel with suspended carriages to take passengers around for an arial view of the fairgrounds. Other engineers claimed the wheel would not revolve. Even the exposition’s organizer Daniel Burnham balked at the plans, which would feature slender rods that would carry people higher than the recently opened Statue of Liberty, claiming they would be too fragile. Ferris was not the first to envision & build rotating wheels (smaller incarnations called roundabouts were built & featured in Atlantic City), but he was the first to take the wheel to this magnitude & financed much of its building. Ferris’ design had 140’ tall steel towers, a 45’ long axle between them, 250’ diameter wheel with 36 wooden cars that could each hold up to 60 riders & was lit up by 3,000 of Thomas Edison’s new light bulbs. The Ferris wheel was a big hit & made an impression on fairgoers. After the fair, the wheel was moved to Lincoln Park, & later became an attraction once more at the 1904 World’s Fair in St. Louis, Miss. Unfortunately, Ferris went into debt designing & building his vision, & he later died of typhoid fever while embroiled in litigation. His original wheel, which was later demolished, was the only true Ferris design. But Ferris’s wheel lives on in many forms by ubiquitous copycats, & the name “Ferris Wheel” has become the generic reference for these types of rides. A Ferris wheel is often a staple at amusement parks, local fairs & carnivals & even serves as a permanent sightseeing attraction around the globe. Pushing the limits of engineering, today’s Ferris wheels reach dizzying heights. The tallest in the world is the Ain Dubai, which opened in October, 2021. The observation wheel will be roughly 850’ tall (250 meters) & will tower over what was once the tallest wheel, the High Roller in Las Vegas, which stands at 520’. Other immense observation wheels include the Singapore Flyer, Star of Nanchang (China) & The London Eye. The famed Ferris wheel lives on in many cities & towns. Once a modern marvel, it is now a customary sight & hallmark of recreational fun.
Enjoy All The Boone County Fair Has To Offer The Boone County Fair is the largest county fair in the State of Illinois averaging 213,000 fairgoers each of the last five fairs. 2023 includes six big days of fun & there’s still time to catch the remaining days of the Fair, August 10th-13th. This year’s Grandstand shows feature country great Tracy Byrd on Saturday evening. Opening for THURSDAY, APRIL 20TH Tracy will be a regional band from Champaign, IL, the highly entertaining ‘Feudin’Hillbillys’. Tractor & truck pulls all day Thursday. Next Level Professional Bull Riding on Friday & two demo derbies on Sunday. The fair features some of the best livestock shows in the state for draft horses, ponies, goats, beef & dairy cattle, sheep, rabbits, poultry & swine. Thousands of Home Ec, Ag & Art Exhibits; acres of vendors & exhibits; delicious fair food; exciting Skinner’s Midway; plus, free entertainment & exhibits throughout the grounds daily including the Free Entertainment Pavilion, the one room schoolhouse, huge antique tractor display, the Grange Hall & Museum, & the 4-H Petting Zoo. Free shows include The Pork Chop Revue, The Rhinestone Roper, The Cincinnati Circus, Mr. D’s House of Magic & Illusion, chain saw wood carving, a glass blower, alpaca exhibit, Magic Mike along with a stilt walker roaming the grounds daily. For ticket prices, schedule & information go to boonecountyfair.com or call 815-544-2900. Like our Facebook page at @TheBooneFair. Our office is open Mondays & Wednesdays, 8 AM - 4 PM. The fair is located at 8847 Rt 76, Belvidere.
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