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  • Ryan Fairchild, 5, of Accident frolics in the Constitution Park Pool in Cumberland on Tuesday. The pool was packed with swimmers Tuesday, all who were trying to find a reprieve from intense heat that is gripping the region. Steve Bittner

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July 7, 2010

Cool drinks hot item as heat continues to broil region

Kristin Harty Barkley Cumberland Times-News

Cumberland — CUMBERLAND — Carol Harr’s drink of choice was a can of Minute Maid Lemonade, but the vending machine had different ideas.

Standing in the stifling heat outside Rose’s in Cumberland Tuesday afternoon, she listened as her quarters clinked and nothing happened.

“Try something different,” said Harr, 51, who retrieved her coins from the change slot then pressed another button. A Sprite tumbled out, ice cold and sweating.

“That’ll work,” Harr said.

Cool drinks were in high demand across the region on Tuesday, as temperatures pushed 100 degrees for the second day in a row. A reprieve isn’t expected until Friday, forecasts show.

“It’s a little rough,” said Brian Stauffer, 21, of Ridgeley, W.Va., who looked downright miserable as he sat outside a Sheetz station in a maroon Mercury Topaz with the windows rolled down.

His stepmother, Debra Stauffer, came to the rescue a few moments later when she appeared carrying 48-ounce frozen drinks.

“That’s the only way to do it these days,” said Debra Stauffer, adding that her icy drink was made with Pepsi.

Taste good?

“Oh my gosh, yes,” she said.

Staying hydrated is of the top tips the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention gives for staying healthy in the heat. So is staying indoors.

Though the Stauffer’s car has air conditioning, “it doesn’t work well,” Brian Stauffer said.

“I like it warm, but I don’t like it this warm,” Debra Stauffer said. “Hopefully it will be back to normal soon.”

Tiffani Welsh and her 3-year-old son, Camden, didn’t wait for ‘normal’ weather to get outdoors and play. The two bobbed up and down on opposite ends of a seesaw at an almost-deserted Constitution Park playground Tuesday afternoon.

The pool, of course, was packed.

“We’re going to wear each other out and then go take a nap in the nice cool air conditioning,” said Welsh, who stopped at the park after her son’s doctor’s appointment.

“It’s unbelievably hot.”

So hot that Ocie Holland of Keyser, W.Va., was tempted to stay home Tuesday, even though her friend wanted to bring her to LaVale for a birthday lunch and shopping.

“She drug me out today,” said Holland, 65, whose birthday was June 21. She and Marcy D’Elisa inspected plants at LaVale Farm & Flower Heaven, a roadside market.

“I don’t find it too bad,” said D’Elisa, whose favorite hot-weather drink is unsweetened ice tea with lemon.

“It’s nice and breezy. Now, if you were standing in a field doing some work, you would feel it.”

In Frostburg, Linda Kline didn’t mind feeling the heat Tuesday. After dropping her car off for service, she walked to the Frostburg Freeze. Wearing a swim suit top and shorts, she sunned herself on the deck.

“I live in Garrett County, so I’m like, just leave me outside,” said Kline of Grantsville, where an especially harsh winter included record levels of snow.

“I had something cold to drink, I got a little sun, and now I can go get my vehicle,” Kline said. “I don’t fight the heat. I try to enjoy it. ‘Cause it’s going to leave really quick.”

Contact Kristin Harty Barkley at http://kbarkley@times-news.com.

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