How safe are the rides at the Boone County Fair?

The Boone County Fair opened Tuesday night, bringing thousands of people to the fairgrounds to enjoy the events, food, and of course the rides.

This sparked the question, “How safe are those rides?”

The Missouri Department of Fire Safety requires carnival rides to be inspected just once every year.

However, owner of Son-Shine Amusement, Darrel Jones, said his operators inspect the rides each night.

“We have a safety checklist. Now, before we even open these rides, the operators have to go through with their checklist and go through it, everything that’s on that list, and make sure it is safe for the public to get on them,” said Jones.

Jones said the operators also do what is called a ‘visual check’.

“The visual is mostly checking to see if there might be something wrong.”

He said this visual check is required by each operator to complete each night before they close the fair.

He explained how the public can know if a ride has been properly checked by the state.

“We have a sticker that goes on each one of the rides and that gives you the inspection that has already been done on the rides,” Jones said.

Public safety officials remind people not to solely rely on the inspections.

They encourage people to say something to those working at the fair if they see something that doesn’t look safe.

There have been no reports to the Division of Fire Safety about accidents occurring due to carnival rides in Boone County.

The last inspection the state did on Son-Shine Amusement was April 20, 2014.

All rides passed inspection.