Centerville
125 views · Published 5 July 2012 · 2:55 · Indexed 4 November 2026
Channel: Dayton 24/7 Now · 2012 · News & Politics
CENTERVILLE -- It didn't officially hit 100 degrees on July 4th, but it sure felt that way as crowds packed city streets for area festivities. Thousands of people grabbed the sun screen and a bottle of water before heating out to Centerville on the holiday for one of the biggest celebrations in the state.Usually about 70,000 people come to the annual Americana parade, street fair, and fireworks display. But organizers believe that number was probably less this year because of the heat."They've been very red faced and look like they're going to drop," said one vendor of her customers.Centerville-Washington Township paramedics and police were patrolling the street fair crowd Wednesday so they could immediately react to anyone suffering an emergency. They ended up only getting three heat related calls. They believe that's, in part, to not as many people perusing the vendor booths during the hottest part of the day."We did come a lot later. We brought the kids about 3:30 today because it was so hot," said Centerville mom, Dayleen Grondalski."Out on Main Street last year you could barely walk down the street, and this year it was a lot easier to walk down the street," said volunteer Charles Francis.Many vendors who had to sit outside all day stayed cool with fans. But for folks walking around in the hot sun, the only escape was a patch of shady trees. Although a few people made their own shade with umbrellas. "It's hot, hot! It's hot everywhere!" said Jeni Lewis of North Carolina."Very, very, very hot. I drank water, ate ice cream, tried my best to stay in the shade," Francis said.The festival wrapped up with a fireworks display at the high school at 10pm. While the temperature didn't hit 100 degrees on July 4th, heat index values did top three digits.
