Navy Pier celebrates 10th anniversary of Centennial Wheel with deals abounding

Navy Pier on Wednesday celebrated the 10th anniversary of the pier's Centennial Wheel with all kinds of deals.

All day, visitors can ride the Ferris wheel for just $10. Meanwhile, the first 110 vehicles at the Navy Pier garage can park for just $10 too.

There are also deals at attractions, restaurants, and shops at the pier, including:

• A $10 Chicago dog, fries and beverage for the first 100 guests at America's Dog and Burger.
• A $10 Centennial Sampler from Chef Art Smith's Reunion
• $10 off tickets to the Chicago Children's Museum
• $10 off tickets to the play "Brokeback Mountain" at the Chicago Shakespeare Theater (use code CST10)
• $10 off Harry Caray face T-shirts at Harry Caray's
• $10 off classic shakes at JoJo's Shakebar
• A $10 mini-marg and mojito special at Lirica
• 10% off Seadog cruises
• 10% off a purchase at Te'Amo
• $10 off tickets to the Butterfly House.

"The Centennial Wheel is an iconic part of Chicago's skyline and a defining symbol of the Navy Pier experience," SJ Luedtke, chief marketing and experience officer at Navy Pier, said in a news release. "For the past 10 years, it has created unforgettable moments for over six million residents and visitors, offering a perspective of Chicago and Lake Michigan that is uniquely breathtaking, inspiring, and distinctly ours. As we celebrate this milestone, we also celebrate the memories, traditions, and sense of wonder the Wheel continues to bring to the city every day."

The Centennial Wheel is the second Ferris wheel to stand proudly at Navy Pier since it reopened as the attraction known today back in 1995. The first Navy Pier Ferris wheel with its red gondolas opened with the renewed Navy Pier in July of that year, standing 146 feet all and featuring 40 gondolas fitting up to six passengers each.

The Centennial Wheel stands 196 feet tall and can fit up to 180 more passengers than the old Ferris wheel. It features 42 enclosed, climate-controlled gondolas, which the old Ferris wheel did not have.

The new wheel was part of a $640 million project approved in 2013 aimed at drawing more tourists and trade shows to Chicago.

As for the old Navy Pier Ferris wheel, it now spins in Branson, Missouri.

Navy Pier first opened as Municipal Pier in 1916. There was no Ferris wheel back then, and there was still no Ferris wheel more than 60 years later when Navy Pier was best known as the venue for ChicagoFest in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

The first Ferris wheel was assembled in Chicago for the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893, and spun on the Midway Plaisance. It was 264 feet all and featured 2,500 Edison incandescent lights. Each car could accommodate about 60 passengers.

From 1895 to 1903, that same first Ferris wheel stood as the main attraction at Ferris Wheel Park, at Clark Street and Wrightwood Avenue in Chicago's Lincoln Park neighborhood. The first Ferris wheel then went to St. Louis for the 1904 World's Fair, but two after that, it was destroyed with 200 pounds of dynamite, and its remnants were sold for scrap.