CANFIELD - Steam curled into the warm air from the sausage sizzling on the grill.
Perspiration glistened on the brow of David Andrews as he gingerly turned over the meat, onions and peppers at the Andrews Hot Sausage booth at the Canfield Fair.
The thermometer hovered near 90. Brilliant sunlight baked the grounds Wednesday.
Forecasts call for another hot one today at the fair before temperatures plummet for the weekend.
''If it's 90 outside, it's probably 25 degrees warmer in here,'' Gary Andrews said as fine-tuned equipment in the booth. ''There's not a lot you can do about it. You can't run air conditioning.''
Claudia Grubbs of Austintown, who was scheduled that day at the Andrews booth, said her plan to deal with the heat was to stay hydrated. ''I'll drink lots of water,'' she said hopefully.
David Andrews said that he began cooking at 9:15 a.m. and would be working until 11 p.m.
Sausage requires some advance preparation. ''After that, you just have to keep up,'' he said.
A few breaks would help him make it through the long day.
''And we like it when a breeze comes through (the open-sided booth),'' he added.
People tend not to stay as long at the fair when its hot, Tony Provenzale of Canfield, who operates Provenzale Food Service that offers french fries and cheese fries. They also shy away from warm foods, he noted.
Vendors aren't able to change their food and drink lineup for weather conditions because they are under contract, Provenzale said. On the bright side, he pointed out, a chilly weekend was looming.
A vendor who was poised to benefit from the mid-week heatwave was Rae Walker at the Bozich Foods lemonade stand. She wore broad smile as she readied for the day's business.
''We've got extra ice, extra sugar and lots of lemons,'' she said. ''Lots of cups too!''
EMS crews volunteering at the fair said they were prepared for heat-related problems but had not encountered any by mid-day Wednesday, nor earlier in the week when vendors were setting up.
''People seem like they've gotten accustomed to the heat,'' Don Hutchison, deputy fire chief at Canfield, and part of an EMS unit, said. ''It's been a hot summer.''
A pair of visitors to the fair from Texas rested on a bench in the shade. It wasn't quite 11 a.m., and the Salem natives were already feeling the heat.
''It's getting warm,'' Shari Casstevens of Burkburnett, Texas said. ''We probably won't be staying long.''
Her companion, Kathy Dersteine, also of Burkburnett, agreed. ''We came early, but it didn't work out.''
Even though it gets hotter in Texas, the humidity at the fair made conditions more stifling, they said. ''You can really feel the difference in the air here,'' Dersteine said.
Tod Bricker of Beloit, who brought three dairy cows to the fair, said handlers must take extra steps for the animals when the temperature rises. Heat can dramatically reduce milk production, he said.
''You gotta keep them cool,'' Bricker said. ''We keep fans on them.
''Some people have a mister system,'' he added. ''It puts a fine spray on them and they run fans.''
