Riders trapped for 2 hours high above Texas State Fair

— Call it the curse of Big Tex. On the same day the Texas State Fair’s larger-than-life mascot went up in flames, the power failed on the 200-foot-tall Stratosphere ride with about two dozen people in the air.

The riders were trapped for a little more than two hours Friday.

Dallas fire officials say all of the riders were manually lowered to the ground by about 11:20 p.m. No one was hurt.

The Stratosphere swings riders in a circle high above the fairgrounds in Dallas. It will be closed for the rest of this year’s fair.

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