(August 2023)
Tim Spitzack
Editor
What has five humps, stands 50 feet tall and is the color of a sun-kissed lemon? Since you glanced at the photo accompanying this article, you know the behemoth in question is the Giant Slide at the Minnesota State Fair, one of the most iconic attractions of the Great Minnesota Get-Together, which begins this year August 24.
For more than 50 years, the slide has offered thrills for young and old alike. And there’s one thing for certain, you don’t see any frowns on the faces of the approximately 300,000 annual riders who zip down the 170-foot-long slide in a handful of seconds.
The ritual begins with purchasing a ticket for $4, grabbing a felt mat on which to slide, then climbing 100 steps to the top (which does make some frown and huff). A recorded message repeatedly reminds those waiting in line of the proper riding position: sit up straight and keep legs straight out. Then the fun begins. The slide’s first wave elicits the most screams, which are amplified by microphones strung over the 30-foot-wide attraction. The remaining humps play tricks as well, especially on those who’ve already devoured too many cheese curds, Pronto Pups and other foodstuffs on a stick. And then, just like that, the thrill is over. Riders deposit their mats and walk away with either a new summertime experience, or another notch in their Giant Slide belt. Those who didn’t pay attention to the sliding instructions might even have their own special souvenir – a slight burn on their elbow, much like a carpet burn. No one seems to mind though. It’s simply a lesson learned for their next trip down.
Fred Pittroff introduced the slide to the Minnesota State Fair in 1969 and it’s been a permanent fixture ever since. Rides back then cost 25 cents, and the mats were made of burlap. The California native grew up with a love for amusement parks and fairs. By age 15 he was selling hot dogs on a stick (in true State Fair style) at a park in Newport Beach, Calif. Ten years later he met a man from an amusement park in Santa Cruz and learned that his giant slide was the park’s most popular ride. That meeting changed the trajectory of Pittroff’s career. Up to that point, he had worked in his family’s printing business and moonlighted at fairs on the weekends, selling hot dogs. Before long, Pittroff was manufacturing and operating giant slides across the country. His father-in-law, who owned a scaffolding business, helped him build his first slide, and from the late 1960s through the ’80s Pittroff built 42 slides. He also operated 10 of them for several years, eventually selling most. The only ones under his control are at the Minnesota State Fair and the Wisconsin State Fair. The company no longer builds slides.
Pittroff’s business has always been a family affair. Fred, who still works each fair, has been responsible for manufacturing, sales and operations, and his wife, Beverly, managed administrative duties until her death in 2010. She passed away on the last day of the Minnesota State Fair and a memorial bench has been placed near the slide in her memory. Today, their daughter Stacey and her husband Robert Barona manage operations. They met at the Fair in 1993 and, fittingly, were married at the top of the Giant Slide on opening day in 1996. In 2015, Fred Pittroff was named a Living Legend by the National Independent Concessionaires Association and in 2017 was inducted into the Minnesota State Fair Hall of Fame.
