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Photography by Samantha Stevenson
2 of 2
Photography by Samantha Stevenson
The St. Louis Wheel hosted its first gender reveal event on Wednesday night. St. Louisans Chris and Jessica Franklin used the Union Station attraction's 1.6 million LED lights to learn their third child's sex alongside 20 or so family members and friends.
"We didn't know we were the first. Not that it would have stopped us," father Chris says. After seeing the idea to use a Ferris wheel on either Pinterest or online, Jessica says she wondered if they could do it at Union Station's 200-foot observation wheel, which opened at the end of September 2019. After seeing the option to book a gender reveal (in addition to a proposal or push for cause awareness) on the attraction's website, the couple coordinated the party with staff and eventually handed over an envelope with the baby's sex inside. (The cost to book one is $200 on weekdays and $300 on weekends.)
Jessica, who is 21 weeks pregnant, says this is also their first gender reveal, as gender reveals weren't as popular when she was pregnant with their two older daughters Adelyn, 10, and Emma, 7. "Whenever we found out we were pregnant, they both wanted to do a gender reveal party," Jessica says. As for hopes from the parents, the two say their child's gender doesn't matter. "The girls wanted to find out," Chris says, "so that's why we're here, it's exciting for them."
Family members and friends bundled up in blankets as snowflakes started to fall and looked up at the towering Wheel, waiting. The votes were cast, with the prediction for a baby boy winning by a landslide. Then, just a little past 7:30 p.m., after the Wheel swirled with pink and blue lights and went dark, it lit up bright blue.
"We love the opportunity to share these moments with families and friends and St. Louis," says St. Louis Wheel general manager Karyn Wilder. "Doing this, we give the city a chance to celebrate with the friends, too. So it's just another way to bring the city closer together." (Wilder previously told SLM that the Washington, D.C., location she previously worked at hosted many gender reveals.)
