[quote]You may have noticed an iconic ride missing from the Calgary Stampede’s midway this year — the Zipper. After 50 years of sloshing people around a two-person cage, the Zipper has been retired.
The ride had 12 free-flipping, two-person cars attached to a long, oblong frame that rotated like a ferris wheel. People inside the metal cages were able to flip over and over depending on how they moved their body weight, making the ride both exciting and nerve-racking.
“It’s really been a popular ride from the minute it opened to the minute it closed, and it’s just plain worn out — that’s it,” said Gregg (Scooter) Korek, VP of client relations at North American Midway Entertainment. “It’s a little bit of a sad story, but nothing lasts forever.”
”At North American Midway, safety is paramount to everything that we do. That is our No. 1 priority,” said Korek. “Once we start feeling uncomfortable with something, well, then we have to do something about that. This was time to send the Zipper riding off into the sunset.”
The ride’s manufacturer, which designed the popular attraction half a century ago, is no longer in business and parts were becoming hard to find, said Korek.[/quote]
[url=http://calgaryherald.com/news/local-news/iconic-midway-ride-the-zipper-retiring-after-50-years]Calgary Herald[/url]
Far as I can tell it's contained to all of North America. Sad to see it go.
I remember my first time on the zipper. I was 16 and it ended in me screaming "sweet jesus take me"
I remember riding on this as a kid with my brother. As soon as the ride started he pulled out a bunch of bars of soap from his pockets and dropped them on the floor. The ride rotates on a single oval track and you can flip it if you want using your body weight. He flipped the cart on purpose a bunch of times so the bars were flying everywhere. I got whacked a bunch of times, but I still chuckle thinking back about it. :v:
I think he left the bars in there when we left, so I suspect the next riders got an unpleasant surprise when the ride began.
Sad but understandable, hopefully someone else in the future will make parts for the ride again.
you never forget your first ride on the zipper
you could be sat with a complete stranger but in those few minutes you will both share an unbreakable bond rooted in true, gut-wrenching terror
I've never been on The Zipper myself but I do remember my moms tale of the first time she did acid riding on that thing. :v:
From her perspective she was flying out to space and back to Earth over and over again, among many other strange details.
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