Ride, food safety a priority at the State Fair
State inspectors worked Thursday to finish certifying the more than 100 rides at the North Carolina State Fair.
Crews from the Department of Labor started inspecting the 104 rides on Tuesday. Just a few hours before gates were set to open, inspectors had certified 101 rides, including the new SkyGazer Ferris wheel and the State Fair Flyer.
The fair rides are operated by Powers Great American Midways. Along with three recent stops in North Carolina, Powers has also operated rides in Pennyslvania, New York, Connecticut, Maryland and Virginia the past six months.
WRAL Investigates dug through inspection records for the three fairs held in New York over the summer, and found that of the 113 rides the company operated there, just one failed inspection. That ride was the spider, a ride that isn't at the North Carolina State Fair this year.
Powers Midways operated rides at the Pitt County Fair last month. Of the 30 rides inspected, there were 11 violations found including cracks to some ride structures that needed repairs, the need to property secure a secondary safety latch on one ride's seat and ramps needing to be added to the entrance and exit to rides.
At the Cabarrus County Fair last month, ride operator Amusements of Rochester had 35 violations on 40 rides inspected. Violations included the wrong size seat belt buckle on one ride, missing structural pins on some rides, the need to replace some antislip cars on the Dodgem bumper car ride and the shim under the track on the Baby Train ride needing to be leveled.
Amusements of Rochester also operated rides at the Wayne County Fair last month. There were eight violations found on 38 rides, including a torn inflatable slide, a broken emergency stop switch, the need to adjust locks in some ride seats and worn bungee brackets on the Flying Bobs ride.
Health concerns
On Monday, state health officials confirmed a third person died from an outbreak of Legionnaires' disease linked to a hot tub display at Mountain State Fair last month in Fletcher.
There have been 140 cases of Legionnaires' disease connected to the western North Carolina fair. Officials say people who became ill may have been exposed to contaminated water droplets when they walked by the exhibit.
Health officials were at the State Fairgrounds in Raleigh on Tuesday educating vendors about safety and doing a walk through.
The fairgrounds’ water distribution system has already been flushed for extra precaution.
In addition to ride inspections at the N.C. State Fair, officials checked the more than 200 food vendors selling cookie dough, turkey legs, pumpkin spice corn on the cob and more.
