Now You Can Rent A Ferris Wheel for a Day

ST. CLOUD -- Unfortunately, this summer we're not able to go to our local county fair or city celebration and take in the carnival rides, but you can bring the rides to you -- or at least the Ferris wheel. Gopher State Expositions of St. Cloud is renting out its Ferris wheel for special events.

Owner Randy Forcier says they've had a lot of interest from curious folks, but of course, it is a big undertaking to get it set-up.

It takes three of us almost four hours to set-up the Ferris wheel and then the deal is we can operate it for four or five hours, then we take it back down after that event.

Forcier says the cost to rent the Ferris wheel and use it for four hours is $5,500. He says you'll need to check with your city requirements for permits as well. They are looking into making other rides of their available to rent as well.

Meanwhile, you've probably noticed the food stands in the Crossroads parking lot, he says those belong to Miller Concessions which normally are contracted to go with Gopher State Expositions to all of their events.

Forcier says, if the Governor opens up outdoor gatherings to up to 500 people, they are working to set up some of their rides outside of malls as well.

We've got signage on how to prevent COVID, we've got sanitizing stations set-up to go around the rides, we've got cleaning supplies, so we're still ready to go.

In a normal year, Gopher State Expositions would have started their season already in April and it would run into October, with events stretching from northern Minnesota down to Iowa, including the Benton County Fair. However, Forcier says this year they've had no events yet and the three remaining shows on their schedule are all in Iowa after Labor Day.