Ice company working overtime at Minnesota State Fair amid extreme heat
FALCON HEIGHTS, Minn. – The heat is taking its toll on the Minnesota State Fair.
Sunday didn't reach the 104-degree record set almost 100 years ago. But while the heat is hard to bear, for others, it's a welcome sight that keeps them in business.
Paul Abdo's job Sunday is to make sure all of the drinks, and the people that are visiting the fair, are cool.
"People are going through ice like crazy, so we were just like non-stop," Abdo said.
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Gopher Ice has been in Abdo's family for a half century. Any soda, lemonade, water, or cold drink has their ice in it.
"[Saturday] they said it was going to be armageddon, right? They were like, 'Oh, it's gonna be 94 [degrees], it's gonna be so humid, don't come to the fair.' Everybody came to the fair," Abdo said. "Now we've got cloud cover, so it's gonna be just as equally bad."
But it's a relief for vendors like Quench'd, who serve up lemonade.
"Every hour on the hour we're looking, because in a split second, things can change," said Isabella Barona with Quench'd. "Even with rain, inclement weather, hot, cold, every day we're updating."
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"We love it. We're like bring it, let's go. We absolutely love it. It's a ton of fun, it's what we do, it's why we're here. It just kind of cranks the pressure up and kind of dials it up a little bit for us, but we've been doing it for 50 years, so it's one of those things where it's not our first rodeo," Abdo said. "We've seen this a few times before, we got through it, we did well with it, vendors were taken care of, all the drinks were cool. It was a ton of fun."
Fair officials urge anyone headed to the fairgrounds to have a hydration plan. You're allowed to bring a reusable water bottle, which you can fill up at stations throughout the fairgrounds.