The Erie County Fair readies for its August start, prioritizing safety with thorough ride inspections.
HAMBURG, N.Y. — The countdown is on for one of Western New York’s biggest summer events — the Erie County Fair. As final preparations come together, officials say they’re ready to welcome the crowds — safely.
The New York State Department of Labor (NYSDOL) is highlighting its Ride Safe NY inspection program, a three-step process that helps ensure every ride on the midway is thoroughly checked before opening to the public.
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The Erie County Fair draws hundreds of thousands of visitors to Hamburg every year.
“The fair is one of those places that you can bring grandma, grandpa, mom, dad and the kids, and everybody is going to enjoy the day. It’s Western New York’s biggest event,” Jessica Underberg, CEO, of the Erie County Agricultural Society said.
Planning for this year’s fair started long ago — in fact, even before the 2024 fair ended, organizers were already looking ahead.
“This is something that the staff and the board has been planning, and the volunteers — they’ve been planning for a full year,” Underberg explained.
From layout to logistics, every detail is considered.
“We’ve been spending time with actually drone imaging, measuring during the winter months, laying things out, making sure things look the proper way,” Underberg explained. “We talk about where flower beds go and where benches and tables go and things like that. So it is a lot of logistics.”
And safety checks don’t stop at state inspections.
“The Department of Labor is here every day checking those rides, but we also hire an outside inspector — somebody who’s not associated with the state, not associated with Strates. Somebody that we say, ‘Come and just make sure everything’s really good.’ And I’ve seen that gentleman shut down the ride if a snap is missing on a seat belt or something like that. They get it fixed. It’s back up and running.”
NYSDOL highlighted its Ride Safe NY ride inspection three-step process.
- As rides are brought into a fair or festival location, inspectors examine each individual part and component of each individual ride for defects and review documentation of ride maintenance, required non-destructive testing, and operator training.
- The ride is assembled and inspected again to ensure that all components have been assembled and are properly secured.
- The operator of the ride is required to run the ride, and it is inspected once more while operating. The person operating the ride is also observed to ensure that they are operating the ride correctly.
“Fairgoers can breathe easy knowing that our inspectors work tirelessly to make sure every piece of ride equipment is functioning properly before anyone steps aboard.” says Department of Labor Commissioner Roberta Reardon.
All rides that pass inspection will have a DOL inspection tag that should be visible before you get on. If you do not see the tag, you can ask the operator to show it to you.
A searchable list of ride inspection results can be found on NYSDOL’s Ride Safety Database.
The Erie County Fair runs August 6–17 at the Hamburg Fairgrounds.
