2020 Hindsight

Part 2 of a photo series on life after 2020. Right before the pandemic began, a Ferris wheel was built in the Golden Gate park at the center of San Francisco in honor of the 150th anniversary.

The anniversary website put up by the park reads like many of the words of early 2020 that became tragedy or prophecy with hindsight. “2020 marks the 150th birthday of Golden Gate Park, a historic place that has never been more beautiful and beloved.”

Sadly, many of the festivities were withdrawn as March rolled around, but the ferris wheel had no other destination cities to travel to, or people to move it, so the frame sat steely and half finished for months.

When shelter-in-place lifted, the construction of the passenger cars was completed and those of us taking our walks in the park could wonder when it might open.

Now, the Ferris wheel runs a full schedule, even on foggy days when I stare at passengers and wonder what they are seeing up above.