The Missouri State Fair carnival set a revenue record on Sunday, just one week after the death of Caleb Schwab while riding the Verruckt water slide at Schlitterbahn in KCK.
41 Action News asked parents at the fair if the tragedy is in the back of their minds. Donovan Bock said, "It is at the forefront of my mind. In fact every single ride that I look at out here I wonder what kind of inspections have been done and just truly how safe they are."
We took that question to the director of the fair, Mark Wolfe.
"We do some things, some secondary layers. The state kind of assists us with that through public safety," he shared.
Missouri requires annual inspections, but the people who conduct them are hired by the company that owns the rides. Wolfe told us that raises concern with some people.
He said, "You know some folks have asked is that a problem that ride inspector is hired by the carnival? That company is separate for sure but on top of that in Missouri we use the public safety side so we have that kind of dual layer."
The Missouri Fire Marshal's Office performed inspections last week. If there are any violations, that ride cannot run until they are addressed. Inspection stickers also have to be present and visible on every ride.
"I've actually worked on the midway myself so I'm very confident. I've seen them inspect the rides so I'm not worried about it," said Hillary Rogers, a mom of a 5-year-old son.
Bock agreed, "I feel relatively safe honestly. If I didn't, we wouldn't be here and we wouldn't allow our son to get on the rides."
A third-party inspector is on the fairgrounds every day to check the rides.
The Missouri State Fair runs through August 21. Get the schedule here: http://www.mostatefair.com
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Dia Wall can be reached at dia.wall@kshb.com.
