The ferris wheel is a staple at any County Fair. The Shelby
County Fair once made national news for their ferris wheel
County Fair
It’s late summer and County Fair season. So many memories come to mind about the fairs while growing up, from the rides, cotton candy, livestock displays and midway games. Although I never won anything like a stuffed animal for a girl, it was fun and exciting to give it a go, especially when I was rewarded with a kiss behind the livestock barn for trying! Many of my friends showed their livestock at the fair, so we literally stayed on the grounds for the entire week, sleeping on straw bales for a couple hours a night after a raucous day at the fair. The Deloye’s always had the winning Holsteins, the Pleiman’s the best Ayrshires and the Joslin’s the top beef cattle and sheep. And during the ’63 fair, I distinctly recall walking from the fairgrounds downtown to the theater to see the movie Cleopatra staring Elizabeth Taylor! But the rides at the fair were the best; in fact, a Guinness Book of Records for riding a ferris wheel was set during the 1964 fair. A 15 year old kid named Chuck Rogers from Botkins rode the ferris wheel for 25 straight hours. Then low and behold, the very next week, a 16 year old Sidney girl named Patty Jones reset the record riding 40 hours at the Auglaize County Fair. No, I didn’t remember those names but did recall the event. Google helped me find the details from a Tuscaloosa newspaper article, as the story went “viral” in it’s day! And as shown in the photo below, there’s a guy in Hamtramck, Michigan who just might have a part of that old record-setting ferris wheel displayed in his back yard.
It’s late summer and County Fair season. So many memories come to mind about the fairs while growing up, from the rides, cotton candy, livestock displays and midway games. Although I never won anything like a stuffed animal for a girl, it was fun and exciting to give it a go, especially when I was rewarded with a kiss behind the livestock barn for trying! Many of my friends showed their livestock at the fair, so we literally stayed on the grounds for the entire week, sleeping on straw bales for a couple hours a night after a raucous day at the fair. The Deloye’s always had the winning Holsteins, the Pleiman’s the best Ayrshires and the Joslin’s the top beef cattle and sheep. And during the ’63 fair, I distinctly recall walking from the fairgrounds downtown to the theater to see the movie Cleopatra staring Elizabeth Taylor! But the rides at the fair were the best; in fact, a Guinness Book of Records for riding a ferris wheel was set during the 1964 fair. A 15 year old kid named Chuck Rogers from Botkins rode the ferris wheel for 25 straight hours. Then low and behold, the very next week, a 16 year old Sidney girl named Patty Jones reset the record riding 40 hours at the Auglaize County Fair. No, I didn’t remember those names but did recall the event. Google helped me find the details from a Tuscaloosa newspaper article, as the story went “viral” in it’s day! And as shown in the photo below, there’s a guy in Hamtramck, Michigan who just might have a part of that old record-setting ferris wheel displayed in his back yard.
Hamtramck Disneyland's creator passed away in May, but his
wacky structure just off I-75 in Michigan is American folk art
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