The weekly news update featuring First Ferris Wheel
To all North Pole City Elves, those in Santa's Village, in the Lower 48 and all around the world, this is your weekly update for the week of June 20, 2022. I'm your host Walter "Mistletoe" Livingstone and I'm your co-host, Becky "Marshmallow" Livingstone, Let's go to press.
For the week of June 20, 2022 your sponsor will be Crystal’s Candy Confections. Located on the corner of Pine Street Ave and Candy Cane Lane, Crystals’ Candy Confessions specializes in chocolate creations that are out of this world. When you are tired of candy canes, stop by Crystal’s to satisfy that sweet tooth. That’s Crystal’s Candy Confections, the best chocolate in North Pole City.
It is believed that those who have been causing issues for us this year are non-North Pole City resident elves that may have been recruited and trained to know our policies and procedures. Now that we are aware of this, the issue should be under control and more information should be coming soon.
In light of newly found information, directives have come down from Santa this week.
-Santa has asked all elves that live within North Pole City to send a message to the Office of Elf Affairs if you encounter strangers working within your departments or if you see strangers walking through the streets of North Pole City.
-Anyone who accepts a new position will now be introduced to the entire staff by their shift supervisor.
-All workers need to be carrying their new security ID cards at all times.
Edward Hinklemyer has put out a memo concerning directives from Santa who has consulted with the entire Assembly of Legendary Figures about the issues taking place within NPC and Santa's Village. In his memo, Hinklemyer stated:
"It is believed that a former member of the Assembly of Legendary Figures may have recruited elves from areas within the lower 48 that are not associated with the elf clans at NPC. Santa will be meeting with the City Council and elf clan elders to discuss this issue. For now, all should follow the directives put out by Santa this week."
He also stressed that if you have not visited the Office of Elf Affairs for your new ID badge, you need to do so no later than Tuesday. All former badges will be completely disabled Wednesday morning.
There have been several new worksheets added to Theodore E. Bear's website. Also, National Selfie Day is June 21. TAOLF.com says that it is time to find the perfect angle, try out that new filter, and participate in taking selfies. They would love for some elves to send them an "elfie" - especially elves in the lower 48 and all around the world. Be sure to use the hashtag #TAOLFelfie as they are sure all the elf families will be excited to see their relatives who they have not seen in a while.
This week will be a nice calm weather week. Temperatures will be about 34 degrees F daily with partial clouds.
WELF-NPC North Pole City Radio plans on having a game start next week. It will last the rest of June. Each morning either before or after the Corby Snow Morning Show, they will share a secret word. Then, in the afternoon, they will randomly call an elf. The elf must answer within 5 rings and provide the secret word. If they complete the task, the elf can win a WELF-NPC radio sticker.
George Washington Gale Ferris invented the first Ferris wheel as the centerpiece for the World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893 in Chicago and officially opened on June 21, 1893. The Ferris wheel was Chicago’s answer to the Eiffel Tower, of the 1889 exhibition in Paris and was inspired by a waterwheel near Ferris' childhood home in Nevada. He also modeled it after the structural principles of a bicycle wheel.
In the early 1890s, the organizers of Chicago’s World’s Columbian Exhibition looked for a new innovation that would create even more excitement than the Eiffel Tower. Unlike the other proposals, George Ferris’s took a very different approach - something for visitors to ride. Eventually, fair organizers selected George Ferris’s design as the winner and Ferris hired Luther V. Rice to build and operate the attraction.
The Columbian Exposition opened on May 1, 1893, but the Ferris wheel was not ready and the steelworkers continued to work on the wheel as winter delays slowed its build.
On June 9, 1893, the wheel was "ready" for a test run. No cars had been attached yet and the workmen, climbed the structure and sat on the spokes listening to cheers from an audience of fair employees who had gathered to watch. Ferris himself had not been able to attend the test run, and received a telegram stating: "The last coupling and final adjustment was made and steam turned on at six o’clock this evening one complete revolution of the big wheel was made everything working satisfactory twenty minutes time was taken for the revolution – I congratulate you upon its complete success midway is wildly enthusiastic".
Finally on June 21, fifty-one days after the exposition opened, the Ferris wheel had its cars attached and was ready for its first official riders which were George Ferris, his wife, and invited guests, including the entire City Council and a forty-piece band. From that day on, the 100,000 parted, 264 ft high, 4300 ton Ferris wheel that had 36 wooden cars with 40 revolving seats that each had a 60 person capacity, ran every day from 8:00 a.m. until 11:00 p.m. Each ride took 20 minutes to make two full revolutions, the first involving six stops to allow passengers to enter and exit and the second was a nine-minute non-stop rotation. The tickets for the ride were 50 cents. The wheel cost $380,000 to build and paid for itself by September 1, 1893.
At the end of the fair, Ferris entrusted Rice with taking down the Ferris wheel and then reassembling it the following year in Jackson Park. It was also reassembled for its second world fair appearance in St. Louis in 1904.
It was ultimately demolished in 1906 after no purchasers were found who would pay for the great costs associated with the relocation of the Ferris Wheel. It was destroyed by controlled demolition using 200 pounds of TNT dynamite on May 11, 1906 (18 months after the fair closed) by the Chicago House Wrecking Company, with the permission of the city of St. Louis. The wheel collapsed on its side, reduced to “a tangled mass of steel and iron 30 or 40 feet high.â€
The metal was then sold off. Some say all of it was sold off including the axle (1907), but others indicate the axle has been found (2007) using magnetometers buried 200-feet from the demolition site just 7-10 feet below the street surface.
As with the first roller coaster, Ferris' Wheel was not exactly the first of its kind. There were rides that looked similar to the Ferris Wheel, prior to 1893 called “pleasure wheelsâ€. In Syracuse NY, Samuel Hurst and James Mulholland, constructed of a wheel based on a ride in their homeland and it was used at a Fair in 1849. Another was by William Somers who had developed what he called the "Roundabout" a year before Ferris'. Somers even attempted to sue Ferris for copying his design. The case was dismissed though as "The Ferris Wheel" is much more complex as compared to Somers’ patent.
As Ferris died just a few years later, and the Wheel at the World's Fair was called Ferris' Wheel, it was the first Ferris Wheel and only official "Ferris Wheel".
The North Pole City Commerce has reported that they have resumed their weekly breakfast meet and greet for all business owners in North Pole City. Beginning this week the meetings will alternate between Mrs. Claus' Kitchen and the Breakfast Conference room at the North Pole City Hotel with this week being at the hotel. Each week the breakfast will begin promptly at 7 am so that the business owners will have time to open their shops by 9 am.
The council will be traveling to Claus mansion for lunch on Monday for a closed executive meeting with Mr. and Mrs. Claus. We have been told this meeting is to discuss matters stemming from the emergency Assembly of Legendary Figures meeting. Santa may be calling on the elders for assistance in contacting elf clans that do not live within North Pole City. There will be no recorded minutes from this meeting as it does not pertain to basic operations of North Pole City.
Elf foosball is being added to this year's Reindeer Games! This is not the foosball the elves make in the workshop for the children of the world. This is an elf sized version where the elves are the foosball figures! We are looking forward to this new addition to the games. We hope all are preparing their teams for the upcoming games - sign-up your team today at the North Pole City Sports League Offices! The games are getting close. A full updated list of games should be available next week.
In celebration of International Yoga Day on the 21st, Kelly "Stretch" Yeardley will be giving yoga lessons all week at the banquet center of North Pole City Hotel. So take out your yoga mats and and join Kelly for some exercise.
Also, this week celebrates National Strawberry Parfait Day on June 25. The ‘parfait’ part of the name means ‘perfect’ in French, and we couldn’t agree more. Traditionally, this dessert is made with juicy strawberries and ice cream, or whipped cream, or custard and nuts. Many versions also include chocolate syrup. Mrs. Claus' Kitchen will be providing strawberry parfaits with chocolate syrup in city center Saturday at 1 pm.
WELF-NPC North Pole City Radio would like to wish a very Happy Birthday to Eric "Quick Hammer" Winterboune who is turning 525 this week. He is one of the elves who has been building structures here in NPC for centuries. He is amazing and quick. We wish him many more happy years!
This is Walter "Mistletoe" Livingstone and Becky "Marshmallow" Livingstone with the reminder: Be an encourager. The world has plenty of critics already..
Have a good evening, and be sure to tune in next week for another WELF-NPC North Pole Radio News Update.
