YORK FAIR RIDES

 State inspections cause problems for two big attractions at York Fair
A new roller coaster didn't open with other rides, and another company's 30-foot free fall attraction ran into a separate problem.
 

From: ydr.com
By ED MAHON, Daily Record/Sunday News
09/06/2013
Blake Storm, 7, walked up to a sign next to a roller coaster on Friday. He needed to check if he was tall enough to ride.
 He was. But it wasn't clear early in the afternoon if the ride would be cleared by state inspectors for the first day of the York Fair.
 "I hope it's approved," said Blake's mother, Alisha Sipe, 30, of the Thomasville area.
 Several hours later, after other rides had opened, crew members were still working on the 54-foot-tall "Mine Bender," and an empty car was doing test laps.
Barbara Lindstrom of West Manchester Township sat with her 13-year-old grandson, Jack Noone, at a bench near the ride shortly before 5 p.m. They had arrived several hours earlier and bought $20 worth of amusement park ride tickets. The roller coaster was the ride he was most interested in.
 "That's what he really wanted to ride," said Lindstrom. "... Maybe they'll get it operating."
 The Mine Bender was one of about 50 rides that Florida-based Deggeller Attractions brought to the York Fair, according to Gene Schenck, president of the fair. It was assembled several weeks before the fair.
 Schenck said the roller coaster is a model new to Pennsylvania, which he said makes the approval process take longer.
 Another new attraction, a 30-foot free fall onto a 50-foot-by-50-foot air bag, opened at the fair but closed later on Friday. That attraction is run by US AIRBAG. It cost $10 per jump or $20 for three jumps. Participants had to sign a waiver.
 Scott Stephenson, events and marketing coordinator for the company, said he expects the attraction to be open Saturday.
"We just need to get some fencing on the top platform," he said shortly after 6 p.m.
 He said the company's free fall attraction has been inspected in Minnesota, New York, Colorado and other states.
 But Pennsylvania is new territory for it.
 "So we just didn't know all their rules and restrictions," he said.
 Schenck said the state had approved the US AIRBAG attraction in advance, before a problem was brought up Friday.
Schenck said the air bag and the roller coaster were both major attractions.
 "I'm disappointed," Schenck said



Piglets from Cedar Hill Pork Farm in Wellsville feed during the morning hours in the Utz Arena at the York Fair on Friday.
(DAILY RECORD/SUNDAY NEWS--JASON PLOTKIN)
For the roller coaster, Deggeller crew members met in the morning with an inspector and supervisor with the Bureau of Ride and Measurement Standards, part of the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture.
 "We're looking pretty good," Scott MacNeill, a manager with Deggeller said around 11 a.m., but he added that nothing was certain. "No high hopes yet."
 At about 5:30 p.m., the ride was near the end of about 100 test laps that an inspector requested, MacNeill said. MacNeill said he was hoping it would open later that evening. It was still closed at 8 P.M.
 

 

The Mine Bender, a roller coaster at the York Fair continued to get worked on Friday morning in order so it could get inspected and approved to open up for this year's fair.
 (DAILY RECORD/SUNDAY NEWS--JASON PLOTKIN)
Earlier in the day, before the US AIRBAG attraction was closed, Mark Stuhl, 41, took a 30-foot-jump off.
 "You just fall, and then you hit that big pillow of air," said Stuhl, who traveled to the fair from New Jersey with his family. "... It's definitely fun."
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http://www.ydr.com/yorkfair/ci_24033816/30-foot-free-fall-attraction-closed-at-york