BILLINGS— High temperatures cut the 35th annual Strawberry Festival in downtown Billings short Saturday afternoon.
The festival was scheduled to go until 4 p.m., but vendors started leaving at 2:30 p.m. due to the heat. Temperatures soared into the triple digits Saturday afternoon.
Thousands of people were still at the festival as it was ending, but one business owner told MTN it had been busier that morning.
“We did some good business,” said Taylor Moore, co-owner of The Baked Escape. “Earlier in the morning it was a lot better, obviously before it got super hot.”
Moore got creative trying to stay cool.
“We've been stealing ice out of our coolers,” she said. “I've noticed a lot of people sitting in the shade. I see them (and) I’m like, ‘I'm so jealous.’”
The festival had several canopy tents set up to provide shade and mist people with water.
Young Ivy Sayler told MTN she was enjoying one of these cooling stations while exploring the festival with her dad.
“They're so cool,” she said. “It feels like a hundred degrees out here.”
According to the Downtown Billings Association, this year’s festival was the largest yet, bringing in more than 200 vendors.
“I just want to tell all the people to stay cool and always keep exploring,” said Sayler.
