Malfunction grounds State Fair's Space Tower for remainder of this year's fair
FALCON HEIGHTS, Minn. — One of the most iconic rides at the State Fair will be closed for the rest of the Great Minnesota Get-Together.
A malfunction forced the Space Tower to be shut down on Sunday, and due to repairs needed, it won't reopen until next year's fair.
"This is the worst problem we've had since owning it," said Ben Kantor.
Kantor's family has operated the Space Tower for more than 40 years. And as long as he can remember, the ride has been going up and down without a problem.
"It was in the middle of a ride and it suddenly decided to reverse directions," said Kantor.
Kantor said the ride was working great until Sunday. That's when it began doing the opposite of what it was supposed to do. Operators say no one was in danger, but they decided to shut down the 330-foot ride and take a closer look.
"We had three elevator technicians come out and spend three days on it. We had a generator expert and we had two electricians come out. And they have narrowed it down to the control circuitry," said Kantor.
Kantor said the older parts of the ride, like the DC Motors, are actually working as well as they did in 1964 when the ride first opened. But they'll now replace all the control circuits.
For many families the Space Tower is a tradition — something they plan to ride every year. But that tradition will have to be put on hold until next year's Fair.
"I'm bummed. I come to the State Fair to take my nephew on that. I love it. I look forward to it every year," said Julia Jedlicka of Brainerd.
Mark Brown and his wife Cindy take friends from Kansas City on the Space Tower every fair.
"We've ridden it every year and when they come up we've always taken them up until this year," said Mark Brown.
"I'm not horribly disappointed because there are so many other things to do, I'm glad they are going to fix it so we'll look forward to it next year," said Cindy Brown.
Kantor said that up until now, the longest the Space Tower has been shut down was just a couple of hours due to a power outage at the fair.