MPR’s Tim Nelson reports on a newly arrived attraction to the Minnesota State Fair….Great Big Wheel. The 36 six-seat gondola wheel promises to be a true spectacle on the fair's north end, especially at night. It replaces what used to be the fair's Machinery Hill.
The Great Big Wheel lives up to its name. It's 156 feet tall, made out of 400,000 pounds of steel, fiberglass, electrical wiring and lights. One of the owners says it cost about $4 million to build it in the Netherlands, haul it over to the U.S. and pack it onto 12 semi trailers.