Meet the man behind the Iowa State Fair's Sky Glider for 50 years

The Iowa State Fair is celebrating the Sky Glider's 50th anniversary, but for longtime fair employee Tracy Shedd, this also marks his 50th year of working on the ride.

What they're saying: "If the Sky Glider is moving — that's me," Shedd says.

How it started: Growing up on the east side, the fairgrounds were Shedd's backyard.

• At 15-years-old, he watched the colorful, aerial ride get built as he sat on his bike. Curiosity would prompt him to ask workers how he could help and he often did tasks no one wanted to do, he says.
• Later, when they were short-handed, Shedd was hired and helped people get on and off the ride. It eventually grew into a family effort with his whole family helping run the ride every summer.
• He took over operations in his 20s and has run the ride ever since.

We asked Shedd about his most interesting memories from the last 50 years:

❤️ A love story: There's been a "number" of proposals on the Sky Glider, he says.

💵 Green tradition: Typically, every year someone gets up in the air and throws $1 bills all over.

👀 The wackiest thing he's seen: "Let me just put it this way — anything you could think of," Shedd says. "There's some stuff that you couldn't write in a paper."

• "I guess you could call that the Iowa State Fair Mile High Club."

🏅 What's new: Several of the gliders have been painted gold for the anniversary, and you'll see a "50" decal on them, Shedd says.