It got hot at this year’s Water Follies. It didn’t stop people’s fun

The heat couldn’t keep Seth Cloninger from continuing a nearly 30-year tradition.

He donned a muscle costume powered by a fan, a viking helmet and went to the Tri-City Water Follies.

But when the weather reached 100 degrees, he said he was taking it off.

Cloninger was one of thousands of people who came to Water Follies prepared for triple-digit temperatures this weekend.

The National Weather Service reported temperatures at the Pasco Airport didn’t quite reach 100 degrees Saturday and barely hit 100 Sunday.

Forecasters are saying the worst of the heat wave will happen Monday and Tuesday.

This was the slowest year that Bud Rose had seen in the Trios Medical Tent in more than 30 years of providing first aid at the Follies. He helped hand out some treatment for blisters and a few bee stings.

They did go through 15 to 20 bags 20 pound bags for ice for the water they handed out to people needing it.

“I think people are just being smarter than they were 20 or 30 years ago,” he said.

Anthony Vining, a medic manning Trios’ other tent, said he was a little more busy, but overall people coped with the heat well.

The heat helped vendors selling drinks, ice cream and pool toys to Follies attendees.

The manager at the Knights of Columbus ice cream booth, Andrew McCabe, said they sold six gallons more ice cream Saturday than they did last year, and by noon, there was another line in front of their booth.

Their biggest seller was huckleberry, but mint chocolate chip was catching up.

In Pasco, Kaile Leiolani Kauanui, 18, was checking to make sure people had wristbands as they walked into the park. She was huddled into a sliver of shade next to a portable toilet near the entrance.

She sat in the direct sunlight for about 30 minutes, but her feet started to burn, so she huddled away.

“The sweat is starting to annoy me,” she said.

While Kauanui and other volunteers found ways to stay cool, the staff at the Lourdes Health medical tent said one person did suffer enough from the heat to go into the ambulance and get fluids.

Officials said the person didn’t need a hospital ride in the end.

While the heat did not cause problems, the Follies saw a couple minor crashes on Highway 240 as people tried leaving. Traffic backed up on the highway as they worked to remove the vehicles.