The Illinois State Fair’s giant slide — which recently got a Route 66-themed paint job — will open each Saturday until the start of the fair on Aug. 10-20.
According to the Springfield State Journal-Register, it is the first time the slide has been open during non-fair hours.
The slide will be open from 2 to 8 p.m. each Saturday leading up to the fair.
Knight, who is also readying Knight’s Action Park for a Memorial Day weekend opening, said he will spend the next couple of days prepping the slide and addressing some wind damage to some fencing.
Knight said he uses canning wax on the slide’s downhill sides to build up speed. Conversely, he uses a Pepsi water mixture to slow things down.
“I think we only had to do that one time during the state fair, to slow the lanes down,” Knight recalled. “You want them to have a nice ride down to the run-out. You don’t want them to get airborne. It takes a little tweaking to get it running the right speed.”
The slide is 130 feet long and 40 feet tall. Installed in 1968, the structure has long served as a major symbol of the fair, and many politicians have slid down it as part of photo-ops.
Knight purchased the slide about a year ago from the previous owner in Minnesota, who insisted it stay in the city.
The fair, established in 1853, has enjoyed a long relationship with Route 66. Visitors from upstate and downstate Illinois used the highway to go to it, and the fair itself sits next to the Peoria Road alignment of Route 66.
(Image of the Giant Slide at the Illinois State Fair in Springfield by Visit Springfield)