By Lookout Staff

March 19, 2013 -- It was red for Valentine's, green for Earth Day, red, white and blue for Memorial Day and, on Saturday for an hour, it will go dark.

The iconic Pacifi Park Ferris wheel on the Santa Monica Pier will join Parliament in London, the Eifel Tower in Paris, Victoria Harbour in Hong Kong and the Parthenon at the Acropolis in Greece by turning off all its lights except for the wheel rim safety lighting during Earth Hour 2013.

By joining Earth Hour in “Uniting People To Protect The Planet” the amusement park will show its "support for environmentally sustainable action" starting at 8:30 p.m. local time, park officials said.

In 2013, Earth Hour’s “I Will If You Will” concept invites individuals and organizations to challenge others to an ongoing environmental commitment beyond the hour, officials said.

“Pacific Park has made an ongoing commitment to participate in Earth Hour each year to help raise environmental awareness,” said Jeff Klocke, Pacific Park's vice president of marketing and administration.

“Pacific Park strives to be a leader locally and throughout the industry for green initiatives," Klocke said. "We’ve introduced the world’s only solar-powered Ferris wheel and the world’s only wind-powered amusement park game, which are just two of many ways we’ve tried to make a positive environmental impact in our community.”

The Pacific Wheel features 160,000 energy-efficient LED lights that present custom, computer-generated lighting entertainment while using 75 percent less energy than the traditional incandescent bulbs used by most Ferris wheels.

In addition to the solar-powered wheel, in October 2011, Pacific Park introduced the world’s only wind-powered amusement park game, the High Striker, which uses more than 100 bulbs, multiple spotlights, chaser lights and a sound system.

The 25-feet-tall game features a silver-plated bell that "sounds each time a guest is strong enough to strike the pallet with a mallet that sends the puck racing to the top," park officials said.

"With these high profile successes, we continue to identify additional greening initiatives throughout the Park,” Klocke said.

Since it was launched in 2007, Earth Hour has grown from a one-city initiative to a 5,251 city strong global movement, last year reaching 1.8 billion people in 135 countries across all seven continents, according to the Earth Hour organization.

Pacific Park on the Santa Monica Pier is LA’s only admission free amusement park and offers 12 amusement rides, 18 midway games and an oceanfront food plaza.

Pacific Park on the Santa Monica Pier, LA’s only admission free amusement park, offers 12 amusement rides, 18 midway games and an oceanfront food plaza. In addition to the Pacific Wheel Ferris wheel, Pacific Park’s signature rides include The West Coaster, a steel roller coaster that races 55 feet above the Santa Monica Bay; and Inkie’s Air Lift Balloon Ride, the high-flying, family-sharing kids’ ride.

For additional information and hours of operation, call 310-260-8744 or visit www.pacpark.com.