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Tilt-A-Whirl ride traced back to Faribault inventor
A beloved amusement park ride, the Tilt-A-Whirl, was started in Faribault by a woodworking inventor. FOX 9's Maury Glover has more.
FARIBAULT, Minn. (FOX 9) - The city of Faribault is celebrating the ride's history with several restored Tilt-A-Whirl cars around town.
Pure fun
Local perspective:
In the pantheon of great carnival rides, one in particular has sent thrill-seekers of all ages running in circles.
For nearly a century, the Tilt-A-Whirl has left heads spinning.
But the beloved ride actually began in Minnesota.
"I think to the folks that live here, it's a well-known fact, and they will talk your ear off about the fact that it was built here in Faribault, but I think outside of town, no," said David Nichols, Executive Director of the Rice County Historical Society.
Taking history for a whirl
The backstory:
Faribault native Herb Sellner invented the mechanical contraption that has pulled millions into its ongoing orbit.
Sellner started out selling wooden toys, furniture and lamps, but his creativity evolved.
Eventually, he built an oversized waterslide for sleds that he installed at a local beach, but his most interesting invention was yet to come.
"The only thing I can imagine is he had already started getting into that sort of amusement ride world, right? Doing a lot of these water rides, and I'm sure he probably saw something and went, hey, I can do that. And there you go," said Nichols.
In 1926, Sellner made the first Tilt-A-Whirl in his neighbor's garden and sold it to an amusement park in White Bear Lake.
His second rotating platform with cars attached to a free-spinning pin made its debut at the Minnesota State Fair later that year and became an instant hit.
"There's something fun about that sort of spinning motion. There really is no amusement ride quite like a Tilt-A-Whirl. It's sort of its own weird feeling and entertainment in and of itself," said Nichols.
Within a decade or so, Sellner had manufactured nearly 150 Tilt-A-Whirls that were operating around the world.
His company eventually introduced other variations, like the Berry Go Round and Dizzy Dragons, helping the Tilt-A-Whirl become a staple at amusement parks and fairgrounds everywhere.
"To me, a Tilt-A-Whirl screams childhood. It's the kind of ride that any age, any family can sit down, ride on, have a good time and just enjoy themselves. I think that's the thing that keeps it sort of evergreen and keeps people coming back to it,"said Nichols.
But economic downturns in the early 2000s sent Tilt-A-Whirl sales into a downward spiral.
In 2011, the business was sold to Larson International out of Plainview, Texas, which still makes the rides to this day.
"One of the things that you would think would be a point of pride is that these things are built really well. You don't need to replace them that often. That becomes a problem when you need to produce more, right? "So that ended up being one of the other things," said Nichols.
Iconic staple
What they're saying:
These days, there are nods to the Tilt-A-Whirl's history scattered around downtown Faribault, with restored cars on display in front of several businesses.
"They're a way to invite people in and kind of share some of that history. There's nothing more fun than being downtown and just instead of sitting on a bench, getting to sit in a Tilt-A-Whirl car," said Nichols.
As the exercise in controlled chaos approaches the century mark, the Tilt-A-Whirl seems to be as popular as ever.
But it's also a reminder of how Minnesota's ingenuity created a classic ride.
"I think a lot of the nation doesn't think about how much really comes out of Minnesota and how much of our daily lives and big companies and things like that come from here and this is just one more of those great Minnesota stories that we get to share," said Nichols.