SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California was hit with triple digit temperatures as the California State Fair opened, leading to over a dozen cooling centers opening on the grounds.
A total of 13 buildings with air conditioning are open to fair goers as the triple digit heat sticks around for the first week of the fair. All eight exhibition halls are open to maximize places to cool down, as well.
For vendors, like John Nash with Fabe’s Churros & Gelato, the heat will play a part in sales.
“We are kind of expecting a little bit slower during the day and hopefully a real busy night because people are always trying to beat the heat,” said Nash.
But Fabe’s hopes the heat doesn’t impact their bottom line
“Typically the weekends are busy all day long so when it’s that hot, sometimes it’s hard to recuperate all the day time traffic all at night but it does make for a very buy night though,” said Nash.
If heading out to the state fair and the heat, keep an eye out for symptoms of heat stroke or other illnesses. If you start to feel unwell in the heat, first aid trailers are ready with extra staff for the triple digit days.
Kayla Majestic is the on duty supervisor with AMR Sacramento and working in the trailers as a paramedic.
“We have a sneaky suspicion we might have an increase in heat related illness. No one is really acclimated to the heat this year. The weather has been very cool, now we are going from very cool weather to very hot weather very quickly,” said Majestic.
While the state fair has plenty of places to keep cool, it also brings its own heat with vendors, trucks and more sitting on a hot black top.
“[It] definitely increases the heat out here that most people are not accustomed to,” said Majestic.
Some things, like horse racing and judging times have been altered because of the heat. Keep up with the latest changes to the fair and its activities on ABC10.com.
For a first time in a long time the state fair is also filling their lagoons because there are no drought restrictions. Organizers hope it will cool the area down by not having so much concrete on the grounds.
