With about 60 gallons of lemonade sold in six hours and more people jumping in line, Kent Harvin's stand at Artscape this year kept busy as attendees tried to stay cool.
"It's really hot," said Harvin, a six-year Artscape veteran vendor, selling blue raspberry, pink lemonade and pina colada flavors of water ice at "Big Daddy's Water Ice" stand. "A lot of folks wait until the afternoon when it cools off."
By 4 p.m., people packed Charles Street in between booths at the annual art festival, but it wasn't much cooler. The National Weather Service reported 94 as Saturday's high.
Tracy Baskerville, spokeswoman with the Baltimore Office of Promotion and the Arts, said the official Artscape beverage vendor, Charm City Hospitality, reported doubling the number of water bottles sold this year compared to last year.
Many in the crowd Saturday afternoon were carrying plastic lemonade cups, some had frozen drinks in large novelty cups and others in coconuts, slurping through neon-colored straws. A few stands offered alcoholic drinks, but the one of the longest lines was for a small, flavored-water stand offering Fruit 2 O. Other stands not offering drinks or snowballs were handing out paper fans.
"More are drinking than eating," Harvin said of the crowd. He said his lemonade, sweet iced tea and Italian ice were the best-selling items because of the free refills. He also sold bottles of water and soda and by Saturday afternoon he'd gone through 2,000 pounds of ice just to keep the bottled drinks cool. But Harvin said he just sticks to ice water.
And while many took advantage of the numerous drink vendors, Baltimore City Fire Department paramedics were on hand at the University of Baltimore Langsdale Library at Maryland Avenue and Oliver Street to offer snacks, water and Gatorade for those suffering from heat-related illnesses.
One paramedic on site said 10 people came through Saturday, ranging from 9 to 85 years old. Two of those people requested to be transported to the hospital.
"It's just that hot," said volunteer Wanda Thompson as she took a break inside the library. She and her friend, Sharon Beverley, 60, have volunteered the past four years.
Thompson, 54, said volunteer staff are given water bottles that she had to fill up several times a day.
Besides downing cool drinks, others sought refreshment in the misting tent.
"It's warmer," said Joan Jones, "but it helps having this around. It beats the heat."
Jones, 26, her cousins and her 3-year-old daughter made a run through the spray. She said she's been coming to the festival since she was a kid and every year it gets bigger.
She said the heat would never keep her away: "You can't miss Artscape."