Any place with AC is a hot spot this humid weekend, but some outdoor events around the state have been planned for a while now.
The “Life Be In It Extravaganza” is a summer tradition in Newington, but the weather wasn’t making running the event easy.
“Here’s the deal, we’re fighting mother nature and she’s winning,” Bill DeMaio, Superintendent of Town of Newington Parks and Recreation, said laughing.
While the fun was supposed to start at 10 a.m. Saturday, organizers shifted the festivities to 5 p.m. because of the dangerous weather conditions.
“Very hard. This was 38 years doing this and to my knowledge this is the only time we’ve ever done it,” DeMaio said.
“It was a smart move, because it was even hotter during the day,” Bonny Jenkelunas of Newington said.
She and a friend were tearing up the dance floor as soon as the doors opened, even in the oppressive heat.
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“We’re hoping everyone else would come out, but not yet. But we’ll get them out there,” her friend Larry Gates of Stafford Springs said.
The parks and recreation department was urging people to stay hydrated after seven kids were hospitalized while attending carnival camp day in town this week.
“We’ve got misting tents, we’ve got spray things, we’ve got igloo coolers. We have free water everywhere,” DeMaio said.
“We’ve been pouring our water bottles all over us to stay cool,” IsabeIa Lebron, who was scooping slushies for Giovanni’s of Newington, said.
Firefighters found ways to help kids fight the heat in Newington and elsewhere around out state.
We found kids cooling off at fire hydrants in Middletown.
Public pools were packed, too.
We didn’t even waste time asking these kids to get out of the water to be interviewed, “Drinking a lot of water, and just staying in this pool. It’s fun,” 10-year-old Isaac of West Hartford said.
They had found one of the many wonderful ways to beat the heat.
