Vision of Pullen Ferris wheel doesn't waver

RALEIGH -- When the City Council took up the item "Ferris Wheel at Pullen Park" on Tuesday, it was like traveling back in time.

Temporarily gone were concerns about unmarketable municipal bonds, declining tax revenue and shrinking city budgets. They were replaced by one man's dream.

For the past two years, Bill Garrabrant has been lobbying the City Council to install a Ferris wheel in Pullen, a park located on the western edge of downtown Raleigh. Garrabrant has continued his crusade even in the face of a financial meltdown that has made support for the $1.5 million project even more unlikely.

Although it would be easy to write off Garrabrant as an eccentric, his track record says otherwise. His first big idea, conceived in the early 1970s, was to put a Southern Railway caboose in Pullen Park. He succeeded.

Garrabrant, 77, who makes his living designing lapel pins, said there are two kinds of people who oppose his plan: "People that maybe don't like to ride Ferris wheels, or maybe don't have grandchildren that like to ride Ferris wheels."

Garrabrant is neither. He and his wife, Lou, have ridden Ferris wheels all over the world, including ones in London, Paris and Vienna. "I just like what you can see from them," he said.

On Tuesday, Garrabrant got his 9-year-old grandson, Pete, out of school to watch the council proceedings.

"He's all hyped about this thing," Garrabrant said before Pete sat through two hours of non-Ferris wheel discussion.

Dick Bailey, a design development administrator for the Parks and Recreation Department, told the council that a Ferris wheel is not on Pullen Park's master plan. Adding one would displace other rides being considered.

City Manager Russell Allen's office did not recommend a Ferris wheel be added to Pullen.

Garrabrant began his comments by handing council members copies of Metro Magazine, a monthly publication that covers Raleigh and the eastern part of the state. The June edition includes an advertisement for Myrtle Beach that highlights the seaside city's Ferris wheel.

Pete then came forward to say he polled his classmates about whether they wanted a Ferris wheel in Pullen. "And each person said 'yes,' " he said.

Garrabrant argued that the city could sell the naming rights to the Ferris wheel and that the ride would make money and could eventually make enough to support the $83,323 it would cost to operate it annually.

"I hope that 50 years from now my grandson Pete will come back with his grandchildren and say 'My granddaddy helped get a Ferris wheel in Pullen Park,' " he said.

"A Ferris wheel would be a lot of fun," Mayor Charles Meeker said. "Let's keep this in mind."