Fair reopens ‘ kiddie’ rides, along with 2 favorites
The mood was up at the Ohio State Fair on Friday afternoon as crowds of fairgoers mingled about the fairgrounds two days after a ride malfunctioned, killing one rider and injuring seven others. News that the Ohio Department of Agriculture, which inspects the rides, had reopened 28 “lowimpact kiddie rides,” as well as the Giant Slide and the Sky Glider, brought many families to Kiddieland to try them out.
Inspectors continued to check other rides, Department of Agriculture spokesman Mark Bruce said, and he did not have an estimate on when they would reopen.
Eli and Ethan Helton, 10 and 8, respectively, raced up the steps of the Giant Slide with their grandmother Tammy Corbin of Sunbury. Corbin, who takes her grandchildren to the fair every year, was concerned about going down the slide at first but said, “I trust what’s going on here with the inspections.”
Julie Marshall of Dayton said she felt safe enough to ride the Sky Glider with her granddaughter Charlotte Doolin, 11, after hearing Gov. John Kasich say rides wouldn’t reopen without passing inspection. Normally, Marshall said she’s cautious of the big rides anyway, but she is especially so now.
“Hopefully on this one, you’d just fall straight down if anything happened,” she said of the Sky Glider.
Chuck Austin of Groveport was already planning on taking his grandsons, Tyler, 8, and Houston, 3, to the fair when he heard rides had reopened. He said he has no problems letting the boys go on the rides.
“Accidents happen,” he said. “It happens, unfortunately, every now and then. You can’t run around scared of everything forever. You got to let them go out and do it.”
Not everyone was so ready to give the rides a chance, though.
Natalie Riley and her husband, Adrian, of Hilliard, came to the fair to show their kids, Luke, 6, and Eva, 4, some of the other attractions. While Mr. Riley was surprised to hear rides such as the Giant Slide had closed in the first place, Mrs. Riley said she understood the precaution.
“I’m not really feeling good about the rides,” she said. “I’m very wary of it.”
Mr. Riley, however, said he was OK with the kiddie rides. “I’ve never heard of a burlap sack catching on fire on the slide,” he said.
While some families enjoyed the games and rides of Kiddieland, the midway at the opposite side of the fair was still quiet. Fences and trailers partitioned off the area around the Fire Ball, the ride that broke apart late Wednesday. Highway patrol officers guarded the ropedoff midway, blocking patrons from walking through the area.
Officials from the fair and the Department of Agriculture said they did not have any updates about the investigation into the Fire Ball tragedy on Friday afternoon.