SHOWTIME FOR THE APOLLO

PALMER — Daniel Bracken wobbled off the Alaska State Fair’s newest ride Friday, a little pale and looking like he might lose his lunch.

Following close behind, Bracken’s daughter, Hannah, tears streaming down her face, looked about the same as her dad.

The pair had just experienced the Apollo, a hulking mass of metal that challenges even the hardiest of fairgoers to a fast-paced whip around a central fulcrum.

Riders sit in two vessels on the Apollo, strapped in securely with shoulder harnesses and locked inside a metal gate. Both arms of the Apollo resemble a large hammer, with riders sitting in the hammer’s head.

As it begins, the Apollo looks like it might be a tame affair, swinging back and forth at a lackadaisical pace.

But once momentum takes over and the ride is at its apex, riders find themselves held upside down with the fairgrounds spreading out around them like an upside down Google map.

After riders are whipped around a few times, the ride finally comes to a stop, not a moment too soon for some.

While the Apollo left the Bracken pair a little shaky, both admitted it’s well worth the five tickets admission price.

“People will like it,” Daniel Bracken said.

Hannah Bracken agreed, but offered a word of warning.

“All the blood will rush to your head,” she said.

The corner of the fairgrounds dedicated to age old carnival rides was buzzing Friday afternoon, as a gaggle of parents waited on benches for risk-taker kids to get dizzy on one of many attractions.

From the age-old Gravitron ride — which whips riders like a NASA centrifuge — to more tame, small-scale roller coasters, the state fair is packed with carnival staples.

Friday’s crowd swelled a bit more than Thursday’s at the fairgrounds as weekend warriors began heading to Palmer.

The Town and Country RV park across from the fairgrounds resembles the infield at a NASCAR event, and by Saturday afternoon the fairground parking lot was nearly full, making for a lengthy walk for backfield parkers.

Wanda Geist Dittman, the fair’s events specialist, said the rides at the state fair this year are attracting the hordes as they typically have.

Dittman was busy Friday afternoon, trying to track down volunteers needed to carry out the litany of tasks that make the fair run smoothly.

She said attendance and participation in events and attractions are right where fair officials want them.

What fair officials are also looking for is likely a fairgoer like Bracken.

Even after his stomach-turning ride on the Apollo, Bracken couldn’t help but smile and promise his kids more fun elsewhere at the fair.

As the ride got swinging again, the family stood and watched, perhaps reflecting on how great it is not to be on the Apollo again.

Bracken said it was all in the spirit of the state fair, and for someone very special.

“It was a human sacrifice for my daughter,” he said.

Asked what he best part of the new Apollo was, Bracken didn’t mince words.

“It ended,” he said.