Pier 60 Park Is Signed Through 2031, Except for the Ferris Wheel

The Ferris wheel at Pier 60 Park is on a trial contract that expires around November 2026. Clearwater City Council has three options on its desk. It can keep the current arrangement, rebid it with tighter terms, or let the program end. Every other paid attraction and stand in the park has already been signed for years. The bounce houses and slides are under contract through June 2031. The Barefoot Beach House and the Pier 60 Concessions stand were renewed in August for five more years, with options that could run decades past that.

So the vote this fall is a narrow one. It decides a single attraction, and that attraction happens to be the tallest thing on the beach.

What's settled and what isn't

Eight months of the wheel, month by month

Clearwater authorized the wheel under a 2025 request for proposals called RFP 35-25. The goal was temporary attractions that would bring in visitors and revenue. Six proposals came in. The city signed a trial agreement with Interstate Amusements for the wheel and a separate one with a kayak company.

The wheel opened at Coachman Park downtown in late November 2025 and made $921.60 its first weekend. It moved to Pier 60 Park in February 2026 and has stayed there since. A city staff report presented at a Sept. 28 council workshop shows how the city's share has tracked since the move:

Those five months add up to $75,760.80. Total revenue from the start of operations through July was $91,714.62. A temporary trackless train during the 2026 Sugar Sand Festival added another $4,067.20, for $95,781.82 across the program. The pattern follows the beach calendar. Spring break carried March and April, May dropped off, and July was the high point.

The number means more next to its neighbor. All Around Amusements pays the city a license fee of $105,575 for the first year of its new deal. That company has run entertainment concessions on Clearwater Beach since 2014. In roughly eight months, the wheel brought in close to what that long-running operator will pay for a full year.

The rest of the park has a long lease

The Times reported in June that council approved All Around Amusements' contract unanimously, and that the Plano, Texas company was the only bidder. The deal runs five years and is worth an estimated $560,512 to the city, with the fee rising 3% a year. City recreation staff put that at 9.3% more than the previous agreement.

Here is what the contract sets for the stretch of sand on either side of the pier:

• Minimum equipment: an inflatable bounce house, a dry slide, a wet slide and other inflatables. The company's proposal also lists a rock-climbing wall, a bungee trampoline, water slides and trackless trains.
• Where: on the north and south sides of Pier 60 Park for most of the year. During March and April it moves near the Barefoot Beach House to stay clear of spring break and Sugar Sand Festival crowds.
• When: seven days a week, holidays included, except in high wind, rain or cold. The city and the company set daily hours jointly, and those hours can change.
• Seasonal rules: operations must follow sea turtle nesting season regulations from May 1 through Oct. 31.

The company proposed hours of 10 a.m. to two hours after sunset in peak season and 11 a.m. to two hours after sunset the rest of the year. Those hours appear in its proposal, not as fixed terms in the agreement. Its filing also explains why the slides look new so often. Sun damage means the inflatables and rides get fully replaced about every 18 months. The company listed the hippo water slide at $125,000 to replace and the shark slide at $15,000.

The concession side was renewed on Aug. 31. Fields Inc. is run by Steve and Lisa Chandler, who helped found the Sugar Sand Festival. The Tampa Bay Beacons reported that council voted unanimously to keep the company at both city-owned buildings. The agreement guarantees the city $240,000 a year in base rent plus a share of gross sales above $1.5 million. Fields also puts $100,000 a year toward capital improvements at the concession complex. Parks and Recreation Director Art Kader told council that the company maintains four public restrooms and empties the trash cans at Pier 60 Park, which he said most people don't realize.

Between these two contracts, the city has already decided who runs the snack windows, the restrooms and the slides at Pier 60 for years to come. The wheel is the only piece still open.

Why the narrower-rebid option exists

All Around Amusements raised the wheel itself in the materials it submitted to the city:

"With the addition of the Ferris wheel next to our location, we are excited for the growth it will bring to the beach, while also anticipating an impact on our future sales."

The staff report has a related thread. During the original procurement, one stakeholder argued that RFP 35-25 was too broad and should be rebid with more specific terms. Staff wrote that a targeted solicitation would respond to feedback about "the broad scope of the solicitation and competing proposals for similar attractions."

So the wheel has drawn more than ticket sales. It brings real money to the city, it sits beside an operator with a contract through 2031, and the process that put it there has been questioned by at least one stakeholder. The three options amount to three ways of settling that.

The three paths, in practical terms

1. Keep the current contract. The broad model continues, and the city stays open to different kinds of temporary attractions as they come up. For anyone walking the park, the skyline stays the same.
2. Issue a new, narrower RFP. The city would spell out the type, location, duration or number of attractions. Staff noted this could bring in more revenue than the current contract and give vendors clearer expectations. A wheel could return under this path, but under rewritten terms and possibly with a different operator.
3. End the program. Temporary amusement attractions on city property would stop in November 2026. Staff wrote that this gives up the revenue "while also addressing concerns related to the attraction's presence."

None of the three touches the slides, the Barefoot Beach House or the concession stand. Those are covered by contracts that already have their own end dates.

Where it stands this week

As of Sept. 29, the Clearwater Sentinel reported that the direction council gave at the Sept. 28 workshop had not been made public. The next regular council meeting is Oct. 1 at 6 p.m. at 100 N. Osceola Ave. Anyone who wants to read the numbers firsthand can find the full staff report, file ID#26-1252, on the city's Legistar site.

The park's regular schedule continues around the decision. Sunsets at Pier 60 runs every evening, weather permitting, from two hours before until two hours after sunset. The Make a Difference Fishing Tournament for Kids is Saturday, Oct. 3, from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Pier 60, 370 Mandalay Ave. The organizers say it serves anglers with disabilities and gives participants free fishing gear, food and drinks. The adult tournament follows on Saturday, Nov. 7, with the same hours and location. That lands in the month the wheel's trial is set to end.

Further out, the city and Sunsets at Pier 60 have announced Sunset to Sparkle, a family New Year's Eve celebration at Pier 60 Park on Dec. 31 from 3 to 9:30 p.m., with fireworks at 9 p.m. Whether the wheel is still standing by then depends on what council decides before November.

At Ocean Breeze Luxury Realty, we keep track of council decisions like this one because they change the view from Clearwater Beach balconies and the scene on the sand below. If you're curious how being close to Pier 60 Park factors into what your place is worth, start with a free home valuation and we'll walk you through it.

This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.