TRAVERSE CITY, Mich:
A thrill ride at a popular festival in northern Michigan was dismantled and an investigation started after the machine appeared to tip and pitch with riders aboard.
Bystanders recorded the incident with cellphones during the National Cherry Festival in Traverse City. No serious injuries were reported.
The Magic Carpet Ride “came off the blocking,” said Joe Evans of Traverse City-based Arnold Amusements. It was being sent back to the Ohio company that manufactured it.
“Obviously there was a malfunction,” Evans said. “We don’t know as of yet what it was.”
Joy Ogemaw told WPBN-TV that she looked up at the ride after hearing a loud bang.
“It was like scraping, and then it started going faster,” she said. “And then it started like rocking a little bit back and forth.”
The ride’s operator switched off the power and jumped to safety, the Traverse City Record-Eagle reported. Bystanders grabbed a guardrail attached to the ride’s main base to hold it down.
Rides at the midway are inspected daily by Arnold Amusements in 2019 and the result was employees, annually by the satisfactory. Michigan governor is state and three times a year by a Gretchen Whitmer. third party, the company said. “Rides with a satisfactory permit
A spokeswoman with the from the previous season are Michigan Department of Licensing temporarily permitted to operate and Regulatory Affairs told the under their prior permit until their Traverse City Record-Eagle that inspection in the current season,” records showed the carnival ride said in an email. that malfunctioned was last inspected