Preparations nearing completion for State Fair opening day

MINNEAPOLIS (KMSP) - The Big Wheel is one of the largest traveling Ferris wheels in North America, and it's coming to the Great Minnesota Get-Together this week.

It was brought here and unloaded from 12 semi trucks, for what its owner says is their favorite stop.

“In my mind, this is the grand daddy of them all, kind of like the Rose Bowl," Co-owner of the Great Big Wheel Michael Wood said. The Minnesota State Fair is the pinnacle of the old time State Fair. Iowa may have a facility that rivals this one, but it doesn’t have a fair that rivals this one."

Months of planning for thousands of vendors all culminate in the week-and-a-half spectacle we've all come to know and love, with 60 rides all getting their last minute fixes Wednesday before the grand opening Thursday.

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