Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, July 2, 1994 TAG: 9407040121
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JAN VERTEFEUILLE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
You can see for miles from the new Rip-Line ride, too, but the view ends a lot sooner. Strapped into a harness 50 feet above the ground, a rider is dropped from a trap door and hurled at 30 mph down a slanting cable that crosses the midway's main thoroughfare.
Riders come to a teeth-jarring halt in about five seconds at the bottom of the 200-foot-long cable, then bounce to the ground. The Rip-Line replaces the bungee jump this year, and is geared toward a larger audience.
"It's a thrill ride," admits Johnny Melton with Bungee Enterprises. "It's not like getting on the merry-go-round. [But] it appeals to more people."
The Salem Fair opened its seventh season Friday night, with 35 rides, new shows and exhibits.
As usual, admission is free; prices for rides vary. The midway has all the usual games of chance that promise colorful stuffed animals and plastic prizes; an array of greasy, gooey food; and fast rides on which to feel exhilarated or queasy, depending on your tolerance level.
In the amusement park-deprived Roanoke Valley, eager children and their parents were lined up nearly an hour before the gates opened Friday. Before the last ride is dismantled July 10, an expected 300,000 to 350,000 people will converge on the Salem Civic Center property, said director Carey Harveycutter.
One of the new attractions this year is an uncaged bear act, with three adult black bears and a cub performing various stunts. Trainer Jeanette Rix and her father raise about 25 bears on their New York farm, and she travels to about 10 fairs a year with the performing animals.
Five-month-old cub Sonya is likely to be the scene-stealer as she climbs, plays and toddles around the lawn where Rix does her show three times a day. Sonya is comparable to a 2-year-old child in development, Rix said, and the "terrible two" spends her time in her wading pool, nuzzling Rix and playing with her buddy Johanna, Rix's German shepherd.
The bears never will be tame, Rix said, but they enjoy performing.
"They'll always be bears, and I treat them as bears."
Along with bears, alligator wrestling is new to the fair this year, as is an ice-skating performance on plastic "ice" with former world professional champion Lori Benton and seven other performers. Favorites such as Robinson's racing pigs, fireworks and marionettes are back.
Farm products, handicrafts, baked goods, photography and horticulture exhibits also are on display and will be judged.
by CNB