31 August 2023
The Space Tower at the Minnesota State Fair began suffering control circuitry issues last Sunday, and “out of an abundance of caution,” will not be operating for the duration of the Fair, according to Ben Kantor, a member of the family that operates the iconic attraction.
“When we hit the ‘up’ button to start the ride, It actually goes down (and the opposite is true),” said Kantor, in an email. “We had elevator experts and electricians involved with the troubleshooting effort Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, and they all agree it should not be doing what it is doing, but couldn’t find the reason(s). Nobody was stuck, nobody was in any danger, (it) just wasn’t doing what was expected.”
Kantor said his family — now spanning his wife Michelle, brother Joseph, parents Gretchen and Errol and father-in-law Larry Borud — have owned the tower together since the early 1980s and provide basic maintenance themselves, such as painting and oiling. However, they hire elevator mechanics for the bulk of the work.
A staple of the State Fair since 1965, the 300-foot tower and its slowlyrising and revolving cylindrical gondola have offered generations of fairgoers a 360-degree view of the Twin Cities and the attractions of the Fairgrounds in Falcon Heights.
When the tower was constructed in 1964, amid the frenzy of the global Space Race, parts were manufactured in Germany and shipped to Duluth by boat before bring trucked to the Fairgrounds. Each ride — costing $5 this year at the Minnesota State Fair — takes three to five minutes.
The Fair opened Aug. 24 and closes on Labor Day, Sept. 4.
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