Want to get married on a Ferris wheel at the Sonoma County Fair?

Who'll be married on a giant Ferris wheel next month at the Sonoma County Fair? Good heavens, it might be you.

Only weeks after Santa Rosa Mayor Chris Coursey married three couples before a huge crowd at a Santa Rosa Wednesday Night Market, fairgrounds folks prepare for as many as 40 pairs to take their vows on Aug. 11 while seated in gondolas on a slowly turning, nearly 100-feet-tall wheel.

The local legislative live wire that is State Sen. Mike McGuire will officiate.

If you'd like to be truly, legally married at the fair, and you're quite close with somebody who shares that interest, you'll need to submit an application by Aug. 4.

Applications are available at the fair office or at sonomacountyfair.com/docs/Marriage%20Application%20Form.pdf.

That same August afternoon, 40 married couples will clamber aboard the Ferris wheel for a ceremony to renew their vows. You can apply to be one of them, too.

Why is this happening?

Because the theme of the 2017 fair, to open Aug. 3, is “Holidaze!” Many of the calendar's most special days will be celebrated, with Valentine's Day in Summer falling on Aug. 11.

Following the mass, vertical, rotating nuptials and recommitals will be a reception in the Blues & Brews Lounge with cake, a champagne toast and goodies.

The whole thing should make for quite the spectacle. As the betrothed take their first marital kiss aboard the moving Ferris wheel, those of us watching from below may dab our eyes and marvel at the towering reminder that marriage is a like a midway ride, one with ups and downs.

Chris Smith is at 707-521-5211 and chris.smith@pressdemocrat.com.