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Ohio State Fair Hires New Ride Provider One Year After Deadly Accident

Carol Beal and her husband are some of the first back on reopened Ohio State Fair ride SkyGlider.
Adora Namigadde
/
WOSU
Carol Beal and her husband are some of the first back on reopened Ohio State Fair ride SkyGlider.

The Ohio State Fair will have a new ride provider next summer after a fatal ride malfunction in 2017. 

Talley Amusements from Forth Worth, Texas begins a four-year contract to provide rides for the Ohio State Fair in 2019, according to fair officials. 

Amusements of America, which provided rides for the fair for 26 years, was one of three finalists for the new ride contract. 

"Any hospitalizations and accidents that occurred, including the 2017 malfunction, for any of the ride companies was a definite factor in the evaluation process," Ohio Expo Center & State Fair Marketing Director Alicia Shoults said in an email. 

The change in providers comes after a ride malfunction led to the death of 18-year-old Tyler Jarrell who was on the Fire Ball ride when it broke apart mid-ride at the state fair in 2017. Another rider, 19-year-old Jennifer Lambert, died on September 7 after suffering a traumatic brain injury.

Six other riders received injuries as a part of the accident.  

Next year's fair opens July 24. 

Adora Namigadde was a reporter for 89.7 NPR News. She joined WOSU News in February 2017. A Michigan native, she graduated from Wayne State University with a B.A. in Broadcast Journalism and a minor in French.