Valentine's Violinist to Play for Ferris Wheel

A musician will join Pacific Wheel riders on the evening of Feb. 14.

Hearken back, if you so kindly will, to the last time your boarded a Ferris wheel and went around (and around and around).

For sure, you likely saw the bright lights of the old-school attraction, or at least its colorful paint job. But what sounds did you hear?

If the wheel was ocean-adjacent, you likely heard waves crashing or seagulls. If an amusement area was below the ride, you might have recognized the sound of Skee balls on the roll or a pinball machine's ding ding ding.

But a real violin, played by a real violinist? That's an admittedly unusual aural experience for an attraction-filled destination, which relies more on recorded calliope-style music.

Pacific Park, and the world-famous solar-powered Pacific Wheel, are rather unusual, however. And on the evening of Tuesday, Feb. 14 — yes, Valentine's Day — violinist Daniel Morris will "serenade" riders of the Santa Monica Pier symbol from 6 to 10 o'clock.

A sizable symbol which will be done up in heart-shaped patterns as well as a host of shapes in shades of red, white, and pink. So if you're standing several blocks away from the Pacific Wheel, and you think you just saw a giant "kiss" on the side, well, you're not dreaming: That's one of the promised pictures of the night.

Will a proposal go down, or, rather, up, during the Ferris wheel's violin serenade? The ride has become known in pop culture as highly poppable, as in a place to pop the question. Perhaps the live music, and the glowing LED hearts on the Ferris wheel's side, and the briny scent of the water below, will inspire a lovebird or two to suggest the idea of marriage.

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Cost to ride on Valentine's night? Ten dollars.

By the by, the Pacific Wheel's full-scale tech update will mark its first anniversary in May. Call it incredibly charming, and even moving, then, that with all of those LED lights it now sports — 174,000 — the Ferris wheel will feature the stringful sweet vibes of that classic romantic instrument, the violin.

Violins, Ferris wheels, heart-shaped light patterns, the stars above, the Pacific Ocean below, cheeky gulls, Skee ball, and Valentine's Day. It's no movie set, but, rather, the real-life Pacific Park, at least for a few hours, on the 14th day of February, 2017.

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