THUNDER BAY — Preparations are well underway for what for many families is a highlight of the summer in Thunder Bay – the Canadian Lakehead Exhibition's annual fair.
It starts Wednesday and will be open daily through August 11 from noon to midnight.
Manitoba-based Select Shows operates the midway, which includes 35 rides this year.
Owner Jim Mills was busy Monday overseeing the completion of the setup process.
"We've been here for almost a week setting up and washing and cleaning. Inspectors will be here today, tomorrow and Wednesday, going through all the equipment, making sure everything is 100 per cent," he said. "We've got a few new ones. Down in kiddieland we've got the Reckless, and we've got a little pirate ship for the kids, we've got a good variety for everybody."
For older fair attendees, Mills said popular rides include the Ring of Fire and the Tilt-A-Whirl, "and we've actually brought another Gondola Wheel this year because the lineups are so great that we've added a second one for this season."
Assembling the amusement rides began last Wednesday, but workers had the weekend off before a second set of rides arrived from Manitoba late Sunday night.
"It's a lot of work, you know. It's labour-intensive," Mills said. "The weather has been very hot lately, and it's tough on the guys. They're drinking a lot of Gatorade and water, but they'll get through it."
He's hoping for favourable weather over the coming week.
"Last year we had a day of rain. We're just hoping everything goes good. But the long-range forecast looks pretty good for us."
Admission prices are posted on the CLE website.
After the CLE fair closes Sunday night, Select Shows' crews will immediately start to disassemble the rides, some of which will be transported just outside Thunder Bay for the Murillo Fall Fair which runs Aug. 16 to Aug. 17, and the remainder of which will be taken to the Emo Fall Fair near Fort Frances for a three-day run Aug. 15 to 17.
