Golden Gate Park’s Ferris wheel rolling again after getting fouryear lease.

SkyStar ride reopens in Golden Gate Park

“I liked it. I would have liked it more if it had stopped longer at the top.” Kirsten Duvall, after riding the SkyStar Ferris wheel

San Francisco’s return to the state’s red reopening tier meant that things like Ferris wheels can start turning again and, on Thursday at high noon, the one in Golden Gate Park did just that.

“I liked it,” said Kirsten Duvall, of San Francisco. “I would have liked it more if it had stopped longer at the top.”

The SkyStar wheel, with its new fouryear lease, began welcoming riders back aboard its 36 gondolas. Adult tickets are $18 but there’s a new 15% discount for San Francisco residents.

Even so, only a small handful of riders had gotten the word that the wheel was again up and running. Among them was Liberto, a golden retriever who got to ride for free.

“He was panting a little at the beginning, but he calmed down and seemed to enjoy it,” said Liberto’s owner, Paris Nik of Palo Alto.

From the top of the wheel on a sparkling day like Thursday, Liberto and his fellow riders could see the top of the Golden Gate Bridge towers, a sliver of the downtown skyline and, above the

treetops, the Pacific Ocean — not all of it, but a lot of it.

On Wednesday, over the objection of a range of opponents, including some city officials, the wheel got the OK to keep spinning until 2025. The Historic Preservation Commission voted unanimously to allow the wheel’s

owner, SkyView Partners of St. Louis, to make up for the months of time lost to the pandemic closure, and then some.

Wheel fans said Ferris wheels are good for morale, business, economic recovery, tourism and a commodity in short supply this

year — fun.

“This is San Francisco,” said Farris PageKing, who was celebrating her 80th birthday. “Everything is controversial.”

Agreeing with that was Stephanie Wiseman, who greeted exiting passengers with a large protest sign saying the wheel’s bright lights are hard on birds.

“Owls live right over there,” Wiseman said, pointing west to Strawberry Hill.

The wheel arrived in the park last winter on a oneyear contract to help the park celebrate its 150th birthday but was quickly shuttered due to the pandemic. In the fall, it managed to spin for 39 days before the virus surged and the operator was commanded to hit the “off ” button again.

Perhaps the hardestworking fellow at the wheel’s grand reopening was wheel maintenance man Logan Matthews, whose job was to squirt alcohol spray and wipe down the interior of each cabin during its brief stop at the loading platform before new riders boarded. He moved a lot faster than the wheel did.

“You have to do the doors, the seats and the grab bars,” he said. “That’s a lot of wiping in 15 seconds.”

Photos by Scott Strazzante / The Chronicle The SkyStar wheel began operating again after receiving a fouryear lease from San Francisco officials.

Ash Holmes and his son, Alex, take in the panoramic view of San Francisco in a gondola at the top of the Ferris wheel on Thursday.

Photos by Scott Strazzante / The Chronicle The SkyStar Wheel towers 150 feet above Golden Gate Park, originally for the park’s 150th anniversary.

Stephanie Wiseman of San Franciscans for Urban Nature says the SkyStar Wheel’s strobe lights are harmful to owls that live near the attraction.