No One Injured as 10-Foot Bar Falls From Ferris Wheel

A piece of metal that fell eight feet from the side of a Ferris wheel at the Orange County Fair on Saturday frightened about 40 people on the ride but resulted in no injuries or corrective maintenance to the popular attraction.

The 10-foot bar--which is lined with lightbulbs and not part of the mechanical or weight-bearing metal sections of the ride--clanked loudly onto a metal loading platform around 11:30 p.m., said Becky Bailey-Findley, the fair’s general manager.

“Fortunately, it didn’t hit anyone, but it made quite a racket and startled people,” she said. In addition to the roughly 40 riders already on the Grand Wheel, there were probably that many more watching and standing in line, she said.

The ride’s supervisor inspected the Ferris wheel after it was unloaded and determined that it was safe. The attraction was reopened about 20 minutes later, Bailey-Findley said, and an inspection of all rides the following morning confirmed that the ride was sound.

Shortly after the 15-pound bar fell, several families requested that their admission tickets and ride coupons be refunded, saying they were too frightened to stay. Fair officials obliged, Bailey-Findley said.

“Safety is a top priority for us,” she said, noting that the 110-foot-tall Grand Wheel has had a “stellar” safety record throughout the fair’s history.