BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — The summer heat is on in full force in Western New York and several places had to put events on hold.
Greg's U-Pick Farm in Clarence is just one of the places that had to change its plans for the day.
The co-owner of the farm, Ryan Sopth, tells 7 News reporter Yoselin Person he and others had to wake up at the crack of dawn Thursday to pick strawberries so the community could still buy and enjoy them.
“We closed the U-Pick batch because it was so hot and we didn’t want people out there,” Spoth said. “We have a pretty good pickin', but again we had to close because of the heat, but we’ll be picking tomorrow. Hopefully, Saturday will take it day by day at this point.”
Spoth also says there are benefits to the hot weather.
“We had an inch of rain the other day so with the heat, stuff really really grows so there are benefits to the heat for sure it’s just I don’t like standing in it too long,” he says.
The Executive Director of Metro Community Development Corporation, Candance Moppins, has seen people coming to the Grider Community Center to cool off in Buffalo.
“We’ve had a couple of people who were walking home after work who stopped in too,” Moppins said.
The building is one of the city’s cooling centers that’s open from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. on weekdays and on weekends from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Moppins says she has seen several people who may not have air conditioning coming in for cool air, especially the elderly.
“So it wasn’t just people who may not have ACs, we had people just stopping in to cool off and get a bottle of water,” she said.
Greg's U-Pick Farm operates Tuesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Sunday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. and closed on Monday.
Below is a list of cooling sites in the City of Buffalo:
- Asarese-Matters Community Center, 50 Rees St., 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.
- Autumnwood Senior Center, 1800 Clinton St., 8:00 a.m. to 4 p.m.
- Delavan Grider Community Center, 877 E. Delavan, 10:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m.
- Hennepin Community Center, 24 Ludington, 6:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
- JFK Community Center, 114 Hickory St., 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.
- Lincoln Fieldhouse, 10 Quincy St., 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.
- Northwest Buffalo Community Center, 155 Lawn St., 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
- Peter Machnica Community Center, 1799 Clinton St., 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.
- Richmond-Summer Senior Center, 337 Summer St., 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.
- Tosh Collins Senior Center, 35 Cazenovia St., 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.
