After learning about a fatality and injuries related to the malfunction of an amusement ride at the Ohio State Fair in Columbus on Wednesday, extra safety checks were done on all rides Thursday morning before the Lake County Fair opened in Grayslake, officials said.
All rides were safe, functioning properly and open Thursday, said John Maguire, a spokesman for the fair. Nevertheless, Lake County fairgoers expressed some concern about the accident, and some said they’d avoid the faster, scarier rides.
On Thursday, the state of Illinois suspended the operation for all amusement rides similar to the one called the Fire Ball involved in the deadly accident at the Ohio State Fair. State officials said inspectors notified operators to suspend operation of the three Fire Ball rides, eight Freak Out rides and one Extreme ride that are in Illinois.
None of those are operated at the Lake County Fair, said Jon Brodzik Jr., the fair’s general manager.
Brodzik said he had spoken Thursday with officials at Skinners’ Amusements, the Crystal Lake-based company that operates the midway rides at the fair. “They said they do not have any of the rides that were suspended,” Brodzik said.
The victims at the Ohio State Fair were hurled from the Fire Ball ride at 7:20 p.m. Wednesday. Battalion Chief Steve Martin, a spokesman for the Columbus Fire Division, said one man was killed on impact and seven were injured and taken to local medical centers. All rides remained closed at the Ohio State Fair as of Thursday.
A ride called the Fire Ball at the Lake County Fair is not the same as the one of the same name at the Ohio fair, said Emily Coroneos, an office manager at the fairgrounds.
“The Lake County Fair uses a different amusement company than the one used by the Ohio State Fair (Amusements of America),” Coroneos said. “We have similar rides, but not the same ones.”
An operator of the Fire Ball at the Lake County Fair confirmed it was not the same ride as the one in Ohio. No one was in line to get on that ride about 1 p.m. Thursday.
The Lake County Fair runs through Sunday, with amusement rides open from noon to 11 p.m. each day. Some fairgoers Thursday expressed concern about the accident in Ohio.
Brodzik said inspections are performed daily by the Grayslake Fire Department and the fair’s director of safety and security before the rides open at the Lake County Fair. Maguire said Skinners’ Amusements has been in business for more than 50 years, and extra safety checks were done Thursday.
Kate Kaufman, of Lake Bluff, who brought her three grandchildren to the fair, said, “I’m never certain safety checks are all they’re supposed to be.”
She added that her grandsons won’t go on any of the faster, scarier rides.
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“We’ll go on the safe ones, maybe the Ferris wheel,” she said.
Cassie Wessely, of Grayslake, who came to the fair with her brother, Rob Brooks, and his 5-year-old daughter, Mia, said an accident at an amusement park “is a rare thing. But when we were on the Ferris wheel, I did feel a little nervous.”
Brooks, a Round Lake resident, said, “There’s always a risk to an amusement ride, but they design them to be safe. But if something does happen, you’re going to be hurt.”
Wessely added that “you drive every day” and that has its dangers as well.
Sheryl DeVore is a freelance reporter for the News-Sun. The baiduhai and The Associated Press contributed.