Meet the guy who's worked on the Iowa State Fair's main Sky Glider line for all of its 50 years

Tracy Shedd has seen a lot of the Iowa State Fair's Sky Glider, from helping to build the main line 50 years ago to free rides for celebrity riders and cash raining down on the crowds below.

Shedd and his crew handle the maintenance and other work it takes to keep the ride going for the 120,000 to 130,000 people he estimated ride the main line, Sky Glider East, every year for the 1,225 feet from Pioneer Hall to the entrance of Thrill Ville.

Shedd, 64, of Pleasant Hill, said he helped install the main line of the Sky Glider 50 years ago and has been working on it ever since.

As a teenager, he and a group of friends were watching the goings-on the spring the main line was installed and offered to help — knowing the reward would be free rides for the first year.

"It was something cool and new," he said.

But the first day of the fair, "They were still short some staff, so there was a few of us that they hired and I stuck it out," Shedd said.

Managing the Sky Glider is a physically demanding job. During the fair, Shedd said he's awake from 17 to 20 hours a day. Skyfair Inc., the New Hampshire-based company that operates the ride, also manages similar rides in other locations, so Shedd still spends three or four weeks a year traveling to other states — but that's down from six months of travel earlier in his career.

Maintenance ahead of each Iowa State Fair starts in April, Shedd said. That means lubricating the cable, putting all the chairs back after storing them for the winter, inspecting the wheels and bearings, and changing out anything that's loose.

He said the cable and many of the seats are original. The main line originally had 67 chairs on it but that was later expanded to 91 by relocating and adding support towers.

If the ride is full, Shedd said about 2.2 people can be seated in every chair — taking into account small children under a height of 4 feet who cannot ride alone.

The ride is available outside of the fair for events such as car shows and wedding parties. Shedd said there have been many marriage proposals on the ride during the fair and couples who rent out fair buildings for their reception have also rented out the Sky Glider.

Former presidential candidate Ben Carson has been one of Shedd's favorite celebrities to see on the ride. "Ben Carson was one of the most fun people. He came through the line. He interacted with everybody, was saying 'Hi' to everybody on the ride," Shedd said.

A year that Iowa hosted a nationwide governor's convention, Shedd said most of the governors in the U.S. rode the Sky Glider.

Shedd said he has not counted how many times people have thrown money off of the ride — something that happened again as the Des Moines Register was speaking with him beneath the main line — but it's happened for about 10 years.

He said some of the first people who threw down money were arrested, "but anymore, they do it every year" and it's not hurting anyone.

Sky Glider West, the line that runs from Thrill Town to Rock Island Avenue, is about 20 years old, Shedd said. That line is 1,250 feet long.

Phillip Sitter covers the western suburbs for the Des Moines Register. Phillip can be reached via email at psitter@gannett.com or on X at @pslifeisabeauty.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Meet the guy who's worked on the Iowa State Fair's main Sky Glider line for all of its 50 years