Inspectors ban 1 ride, delay 4 at State Fair
The state’s new director of agriculture sent a warning to amusement-ride operators two weeks ago that she would shut down any rides if inspectors couldn’t determine that they were safe — and she showed Wednesday that she wasn’t bluffing.
Dorothy Pelanda, whose agency oversees state ride inspectors, said one of the rides brought to the Ohio State Fair was corroded enough that it would be dismantled and removed from the site. The disqualified ride is called Kissel’s Military Base, a 70-foot-tall wheel where 16 cars can spin upside down.
“We didn’t even complete the inspection,” Pelanda said at an impromptu news conference called Thursday afternoon at the fairgrounds. “We knew that we were not going to accept the ride at our fairgrounds.”
The ride was to be dismantled overnight, and Pelanda expected it to be gone by Friday morning.
Four other rides should open after minor repairs — including a new weld for one of them — or paperwork issues get resolved, Pelanda said.
The get-tough approach to ride safety comes two years after one of the worst ride accidents in fair history. Interior corrosion caused the 72-foot-tall, 54-ton Fire Ball ride to break apart in July 2017, killing Tyler Jarrell, 18, who was thrown from a gondola. Six others were injured; one of them, Jennifer Lambert, 19, suffered major brain damage and died in September 2018.
Two weeks ago as Pelanda showed off a newly refurbished chairlift ride at the fairgrounds, she warned that she will shut down any ride if state inspectors can’t verify the condition of critical internal parts not visible to them.
“Here we are being transparent, which is what my goal is with all of you,” Pelanda said Thursday. “We want to partner with you to spread the message to the community and those visiting the fair that safety is No. 1 here.”
Talley Amusements of Fort Worth, Texas, has the contract to provide rides for this year’s fair, but the ride in question was provided by a subcontractor, Kissel Entertainment. Neither firm returned messages seeking comment Thursday.
As fair officials ferried a group of reporters up to view the disqualified ride, Maurice Haworth, an employee of Talley, walked up and began ripping down yellow “caution” tape that had been put up by the State Highway Patrol to keep the public away from the steel wheel.
“It’s a bad visual,” Haworth told The Dispatch about the tape.
Asked if the ride is safe, Haworth responded: “I have no idea, I have not looked at it. I’m just coming by because that looks awful.”
After several state troopers and the state’s chief ride inspector huddled with Haworth, he was allowed to replace the tape with metal fencing.
Funding for ride inspections was increased in the two-year state operating budget enacted last week. The plan that lawmakers approved and Gov. Mike Dewine signed provides a 27% increase to $1.82 million for this fiscal year and a 6% increase to $1.94 million the following year. The funds will come from an increase in rideinspection fees, including a $75 increase to $225 on most rides.
Also, the State Fair’s Skyglider chairlift ride this spring got nearly 100 new chairs and was fitted with a new braking system for the first time since it was installed in 1969. The new system keeps the ride’s cable from rolling when it’s brought to a stop — a feature that officials didn’t deem critical for the past 50 years. The $192,600 upgrade also included new permanent fencing that keeps vehicles from hitting the chairs when they descend to ground level at each end of the ride.