Fair ride injures two, shuts down operation at Stony Plain Farmers’ Days – Edmonton | Globalnews.ca

Festival rides at the Farmers’ Days fair in Stony Plain had an early curtain call after two rides injured people Friday afternoon.

The festival, which was slated to run through Sunday, carried on with its rodeo, market and live events but Midway Rides were shut down after the incident.

Brianne Garskey and Kaleb Starnes were getting on a ride called the hurricane when they were told to switch seats to balance out the weight. The pair said the ride suddenly started as people were still getting on, hitting them.

“It started up and then it hit both of us down onto the grate,” Starnes explained. “Another cart ran us over and then we finally kind of got thrown out.

“We both kind of just thought, ‘Let’s get the other one out of here,’ so we both went to kind of push each other off of the grating platform we got stuck on and we ended pulling each other off the ride together.”

Fire crews attended the scene and Garskey was taken to the hospital in an ambulance. She received a dozen stitches for a cut on her leg, and also has road rash on her arm and face.

Alberta Health Services said a child was taken to hospital earlier in the day, as well. Wild Rose Shows, which operates the Midway, says it was from an incident involving a ride called the Construction Zone.

The town of Stony Plain said it’s aware of the incidents, and on Saturday, posted its regrets to announce the rides would not be available for the rest of Farmers’ Days.

“The town requested an inspection of Midway prior to Midway’s opening on Saturday morning, resulting in the closure of Midways Rides for the remainder of the weekend due to safety concerns,” the statement said.

Wild Rose Shows says it won’t start operating again until the Alberta Elevating Devices and Amusement Rides Safety Association goes over the entire Midway.

“Two incidents in this day and age is not acceptable,” said Wild Rose owner Mike Kryzanowski. “Due to public safety, we are better off just to close, have a full reinspection and start over again.”

While Garskey and Starnes are grateful things weren’t worse, they agree that an inspection of the rides is needed.

“It could have gone a hell of a lot worse. It could have been someone a lot weaker than the two of us or it could have gone much worse,” Garskey said.

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