The State Fair of Texas says they’re ready to keep fairgoers safe in the event of severe weather Wednesday night.
“We’ve already sent out notifications to our staff, all our vendors out here to remain weather aware and so they can help us communicate to all our fairgoers,” said the Senior Vice President of Public Relations Kristin Condoianis
Behind the scenes, the staff is in constant communication with metrologists contracted to solely focus on weather in and around Fair Park.
“Weather is always a challenge. You never know what it’s going to do,” said Senior Vice President of Operations Rusty Fitzgerald.
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If lightning is detected within 20 miles, staff will start shutting down the highest rides first then the rest until all are closed, according to Fitzgerald.
Speakers located throughout the fairgrounds will be activated to alert people of bad weather and where to seek shelter.
“We’ll open up the Cotton Bowl, the coliseums, even our offices if we have to,” said Fitzgerald.
Even Big Tex is engineered to withstand North Texas storms.
“He weighs 26,000 pounds,” Fitzgerald said. “He can stand in a hurricane. It might blow his clothes off, but he’s not going to come down, he’ll still stand. He’s ready for over 100 mile-per-hour winds.”
The vendor behind this year’s award-winning Deep Fried Pho is preparing employees for their severe weather plan, but most looking forward to what comes after any storms – a cool down and crowds.
High temperatures are forecast in the low 80s and 70s as we head into the Red River Rivalry weekend.
“It’s going to be a sea of people,” said vendor Michelle Le of Eat Crispies. “People are going to want to be out here with the cooler weather.”
