Challenges For Gulf State Fair

From the pig races to the carnival rides, this year's Greater Gulf State Fair is just about ready to go.
They're banking on the public choosing to still come to the fair even with the stock market in the tank and sky high gas prices. Operations Manager Bill Carter doesn't expect the slumping economy to effect this years crowds. "We think that we're closer to home we're in your back yard. We want people to come out here and we think they will I think they'll look into things that are closer to home."

One of the rides on the midway has been in the news after an accident in California. It's called the YoYo. Fair Manager Dan Mengi says his ride is perfectly safe. "This is one incident that has happened in 35 years of making it. The factory came up with a fix for it and we've already installed a fix. They gave us till December to do it and we've already done it."

In May, the California ride collapsed injuring 23 people. "If there was any problem at all, if we thought there was any safety issues, we wouldn't even put the ride up." says Mengi.

Daily inspections are held to insure all the rides are safe.

With just a few hours before the gates open, there's still work to be done but when the crowds get here, they'll be ready.