The Wisconsin State Fair director has been urging folks to try out a new midway. Rick Frenette says the rides have improved, and the games actually give you a fair chance to win. Frenette admitted to Milwaukee Journal Sentinel columnist Jim Stingl that lots of games were rigged in the past with oval basketball hoops and over-inflated balls, and ring tosses in which there was no chance that a ring could go around a bottle. And the fair hired carnival veteran Chris Walden to make sure the games are honest. The State Fair is running its own midway this year, after hiring the same company to run it for about the past 30 years. Fair officials chose 35 operators to run the new midway’s 52 rides and 31 games. And to make things fair, Frenette says officials have laid out a number of ground rules for the game personnel – and the workers now have to pass background checks. The goal was to make the midway a bit classier while keeping its fun-and-risky atmosphere. The odds are still against you. Operators are required to give out 25-dollars worth of prizes for every 100-dollars they take in. Business was slow at first, but Frenette said yesterday that it’s picking up. The State Fair runs through Sunday in West Allis.
