New Company Picked To Provide Midway At Tulsa State Fair

<p>A new company will provide the midway at the Tulsa State Fair this year.</p>

Friday, February 19th 2016, 4:18 pm

By: News On 6

New Company Picked To Provide Midway At Tulsa State Fair

A new company will provide the midway at the Tulsa State Fair this year.

The Tulsa County Public Facilities Authority, better known as the Fair Board, officially announced Friday that North American Midway Entertainment (NAME) will be the midway provider for the 2016 thru 2018 Tulsa State Fair.

NAME is based in Farmland, Indiana and bills itself as "the world's largest traveling outdoor amusement park."

The change means that for the first time in decades, the midway will not be provided by Murphy Brothers Exposition. Based in Tulsa, Murphy Brothers got their first Tulsa State Fair midway contract in the early 70s. The company recently sold its Big Splash water park, which is also located at Expo Square.

In 2008, the company caused controversy when the Fair Board discovered it had not paid $130,657 in rent for Big Splash for 2007 and found an uncashed check worth $68,000 for half of the rent from 2006.

The rent situation was even more controversial because the Fair Board had refused to renew the lease for Bell's Amusement Park in 2006, with one of the Fair Board members claiming Bell's had not been a good tenant.

The Fair Board fired Expo Square CEO Rick Bjorklund over the situation. County Commissioner and Fair Board member Randi Miller then lost to Sally Bell in the primary in her re-election bid.

The 2016 Tulsa State Fair will be called Picture This and runs September 29 through October 9.