ROLLERCOASTER RIDE RECREATED IN WILLOW
A team of artists has recreated Oakwood Theme Park’s iconic wooden rollercoaster ride Megafobia in willow. The ride, which has been voted the third best coaster in the world, celebrates its 20th birthday this year. Bosses at the Pembrokeshire park commissioned a team of local artists to construct their own large-scale version using willow.
The living sculpture uses 2,000 individual willow stems, and took a team of more than 20 people from local environmental organisation Pembroke 21C 15 days to create. “This is our first large sculpture and we were very lucky to be able to collaborate with the artist Michelle Cain, who has been creating art and sculptures from willow for many years,” said project leader Tracy Whistance. “It started off looking like a giant pretzel on the floor and became this amazing, elegant structure.“It was great fun to build – even though it was freezing – and it was such a pleasure to see peoples’ faces as they drove past every day watching it grow and change,” she added.
The new sculpture, which has been positioned on a roundabout at the entrance to the park, is being sponsored by Gravells KIA Motors, one of the largest motor dealers in South Wales.
Opened in 1996 and manufactured by the leading US company Custom Coasters International, Megafobia is close to a kilometre in length, and is 26 metres tall at its highest point.
Famed as one of the wildest wooden coasters on the planet, Megafobia has been voted the best ride in the UK and the third best ride in the world by coaster enthusiasts from the Roller Coaster Club of Great Britain.
