By Joan Janzen
Remember when the community of Alsask had a working Ferris wheel? During the 1990s, Rod Thompson put Alsask on the map by moving a Saskatchewan-made Ferris wheel to his farm just west of the service station on Highway 7.
Round and round in Alsask. During the 1990s, Rod Thompson set up a 10-metre-high Ferris wheel on his farm west of the Alsask service station, drawing visits from CBC and “On the Road Again.” Photo submitted
Photo submitted
Photo submitted
“It was quite visible,” Rod recalled from his current home on the south end of Jackfish Lake. “Some people may have scratched their heads wondering why I went through all the effort of getting it there from Shellbrook. I hauled it back home with a grain truck and trailer.”
It became even more visible after a CBC camera crew showed up, and the Crossroads and the StarPhoenix wrote about the attraction. “On the Road Again” added an episode about the Ferris wheel to its program while touring Western Canada.
“We did a production with a few kids I lined up,” Rod said.
They also invited the two men from Shellbrook who originally built the Ferris wheel in the winter of 1955-56. The builders used a four-cylinder gas engine out of a Massey combine and a metal seat for the operator, which wasn’t exactly comfortable on a hot day. The Ferris wheel had only been used on the July 1 weekend and had been neglected until Rod got word from his brother that “we got ourselves a Ferris wheel.”
Rod spent a year working on the 10-metre-high ride parked on his front lawn.
“It took up a lot of time, but in the long run it was worth it,” he said.
By 2000, Rod accepted an offer to sell the Ferris wheel to a buyer from Castor, Alta.
“I don’t know if he ever set it up again. Maybe someone knows,” he concluded.