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Popular Ferris Wheel Returns To Point State Park

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- High above the Regatta grounds in Point State Park, the popular Ferris wheel is back in town.

"It's almost ten stories tall," said owner Garth Nicely. "It's 16 gondolas. Can haul one to six people, depending on size. When you look up, it looks tall. But when you look down, it looks like, oh, we're way up here!"

After dark, he said it becomes the "Wheel of Lights."

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(Photo Credit: KDKA)

"In this day and age, the LED world is phenomenal. The twists and twirls that you can do with these computer activated lights. So that's kind of what we bring to town, plus the thrill of riding a ten-story Ferris Wheel."

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It's a gentle thrill, in spite of the height.

"It's not real fast, you sit on it, relax, enjoy yourself," the owner said. "Your whole family can ride a Ferris wheel with you."

The wheel's namesake was Pittsburgh engineer George Ferris, who built the first one for the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago. 264 feet high, it could carry 2,000 passengers at once.

Though he lives in North Carolina, the owner of the "Wheel of Lights" has a touch of Pittsburgh in him.

"From the seventies, I became a Steelers fan."

He and his sons have tickets for a game in December.

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