Sizzlin’ fun

MOSES LAKE — It being summer and with the weather gods sometimes having a nasty sense of humor, it was probably to be expected.

“It’s going to be hot this week,” said fairgrounds manager Jim McKiernan while talking to volunteers Monday morning.

At least that’s the expectation for the first three days of the fair’s five-day run. Temperatures are forecast to break 100 degrees each day. Rachael Fewkes, meteorologist with the National Weather Service office in Spokane, said Tuesday is forecast to be the hottest day, with temperatures reaching about 105 degrees. Wednesday and Thursday will be almost as hot, with highs reaching 102 to 104 degrees, she said, although Moses Lake, unlike some other Eastern Washington locations, is not on track to break any records.

The Grant County Sheriff’s Office has a booth located at the south end of the midway, next to the 4-H Building. That’s also where the EMS crews are stationed and anyone suffering a medical situation – heat related or otherwise – is urged to contact them. Fairgrounds employees, GCSO deputies and security personnel also patrol the grounds regularly.

Fairgrounds officials have installed additional misting stations around the grounds, McKiernan said Monday.

The 4-H, commercial and ag exhibit buildings are air-conditioned, and are open to attendees who might get overheated. Spending time in an air-conditioned building is one of the methods recommended by the Washington Department of Health in a press release issued Monday.

The DOH also recommends drinking plenty of non-alcoholic liquids when out on a hot day, and taking frequent breaks in the shade. People should wear wide-brimmed hats, light-colored and loose-fitting clothing and protect skin from sunburn. People experiencing symptoms of heat illness should move to a cooler location immediately, and seek medical attention if symptoms don’t improve quickly. Symptoms include dizziness, nausea, headaches and muscle cramps.

Many other exhibit buildings and the competition arenas are not air-conditioned, nor are the lamb, poultry and beef barns. The swine barn has an air circulation system and shade curtains as well as an automatic watering system, but those in the building should still be conscious of this week’s extreme heat.

Fans are provided for the exhibit buildings without air conditioning, and the competition arenas. For the livestock barns exhibitors have come up with their own techniques, adding fans and wet shavings to the stalls, keeping water bottles close at hand to spray down their animals and providing a steady supply of water.

The booths along the food court were built back in the day, at a time when less attention was paid to amenities like air conditioning. Like the livestock exhibitors, the charitable organizations that run the food booths have come up with ways to keep it cooler - cool enough, at least.

The ice machine at the Ephrata Lions booth is legendary, dating back to the construction of Grand Coulee Dam, and 2023 president Rock Witte said he expects the ice water to make the booth very popular. For the people in the booth, the key is air circulation.

“We’ve got an air conditioner on the roof, an old swamp cooler,” he said.

That swamp cooler is supplemented with a forest of fans.

“The main thing for us is to drink a lot of water. And move a lot of air,” he said.

Being mindful of hydrating and remembering how warm it is are vital to staying safe.

“We keep it a comfortable 90 degrees in there on a hot day,” he said. “It’s bearable in there.”

The Block 40 booth serves ice cream rather than the hamburgers served by the Lions. Rich Mueller, directing the booth’s setup Monday, said keeping cool depends.

“The people or the food? For the food it’s easy, we have coolers for that,” he said.

Like the Lions, keeping it bearable at the Block 40 booth is about airflow.

“We have one, two, three, four - we’ve got four fans down (in the booth). And we have a secret weapon,” he said, walking around to the back of the booth, pointing to a fan under the eaves. “That’s fan number five. Four on the floor and the big one on the roof.”

The good news is that the heat wave will be more of a heat flash, with temperatures dropping into the low 90s on Friday and the mid-80s by Saturday.

“It’s a pretty short-lived ridge,” Fewkes said.

In the meantime Ephrata Lions member Bill Sangster, helping with setup on Monday, said there was one piece of equipment that was vital.

“It’s going to be warm. Your ice machine cannot go down,” he said.

Cheryl Schweizer may be reached via email at education@columbiabasinherald.com.