Beat the Heat event on Lookout Mountain
We just enjoyed a lovely cold chill and a hint of fall teasing us all. I had to wear a sweater to dinner on the porch and the outdoors was absolutely inviting. I felt like I could get a deep breath of clean, fresh air when I opened the front door and walking around the garden was a pleasure instead of the daunting chore of determining which plants were suffering the most.
That was mean. We shouldn’t even be thinking about fall yet. It’s my husband’s fault; last week, on one of those crisp, invigorating days, when the 16-year-old dog was darting around the yard like a puppy, he said this was his favorite time of year. “The dog days of August,” I asked, knowing exactly what he meant but giving him a chance to save himself, to save the good weather.
“No, the touch of autumn!” he exclaimed, thereby destroying any chance of cooler, desirable and pleasant temperatures.
As you know, we are currently experiencing another heatwave.
Earlier this summer, just before our brief respite, the only thing people talked about was the heat. It was intense, pressing down from the sky, surrounding our bodies with heat so intense and air so thick that we wanted to pick it up and throw it away. But we couldn’t. It radiated up from the sidewalk, making it feel as if the sidewalk was electrified and someone had turned it on full blast.
It was around this time that the town of Lookout Mountain, Georgia, led by Mayor David Bennett, City Manager Kenny Lee, and Director of Public Works Ashley Keck, decided it was time to “escape the heat,” and they pulled out all the stops. On a short, bright afternoon, the lawn in front of Fairyland Mountain Hall was green and lush, begging to be walked on by bare feet, and the fire department was called with a request that, for once, was not an emergency.
On a recent Thursday afternoon, people of all ages gathered at the FMH. Most wore bathing suits and were slathered in sunscreen, but even the spectators on the sidelines eventually took off their shoes and dipped their toes into the wet, somewhat cool, or at least not burning, sidewalk.
The fire engines made their presence felt, and the fine spray of cool water did more to dispel the heat than the unbridled heat. Instead of complaining about the heat and the burning sun and the few opportunities to cool off, everyone screamed and yelled and laughed, while the joy and relief permeated more than the green grass on the commons.
Despite the heatwave, the whole community was treated to a wonderful, “watery” romp at Fairyland Mountain Hall for two wonderful afternoons just as temperatures were peaking. And it looks like we desperately need another one.
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Ferris Robinson is the author of three children’s books: The Queen Who Banished Bugs, The Queen Who Accidentally Banished Birds, and Call Me Arthropod from her pollinator series If Bugs Are Banished. Making Arrangements is her first novel. Dogs and Love – Stories of Fidelity is a collection of true stories about man’s best friend. Her website is ferrisrobinson.com and you can download a free pollinator poster there. She is the editor of The Lookout Mountain Mirror and The Signal Mountain Mirror.
Ferris Robinson
