TULSA, Okla. — Organizers are making sure everything at the Tulsa State Fair, from the rides to the food, is safe.
Inspections have been taking place all week, and it’s only the beginning of the next 11 days. As thousands of people head to the midway for 11 days of awesome, behind-the-scenes inspectors are hard at work.
Fair food is always a big draw for the crowds, and with 206 individual food booths to choose from this year, the Tulsa Health Department is making sure each one is good to go.
“They’re verifying that those food vendors are meeting the food safety criteria,” said Aaron Greenquist.
Greenquist is the special event coordinator at THD. From the sandwich shop to the ice cream parlor, each one will showcase a license, so you’ll be able to see it is approved. Even when the fair starts, inspectors will spend about 690 hours doing spot inspections.
“We will still have inspectors out here every day throughout the week and next week, and we’ll be going back randomly into those food booths to ensure that they’re still following those food safety practices,” said Greenquist.
If you’re not at the fair for the food, you’re likely there for the rides. Allen Mcelyea is the Chief Amusement Ride Inspector for the state. “If you don’t start out right, you’re not going to end up right,” said Mcelyea. “You got to start at the bottom and go up.”
From the seat belts and lap bar restraints to missing hardware and cracks, about seven inspectors are looking over each ride from top to bottom.
“There are a few new rides out here this year we haven’t seen here at this fair, but everything’s been looking really good,” said Mcelyea.
There are 65 ride options to choose from, and they’ll have inspectors on site from open to close every day of the fair just to make sure the rides are running as they should.
“It’s had 3 or 4 sets of eyes on every ride out here,” said Mcelyea.
The fair kicks off at 11 on Thursday morning. It’ll go until Sunday, Oct. 8.
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