\n\t\t\t\t\t\tOrganizers with the Westmoreland Arts and Heritage Festival are ready for its 52nd year of celebrating culture.”We started out very small at Seton Hill College,” said Lynn Johnston, the festival\u2019s board chairwoman. “We\u2019ve moved, and we\u2019re so happy and grateful. We\u2019re here to bring different cultures to Westmoreland County.”However, to do that, organizers and visitors at Twin Lakes Park are finding their own ways to handle the heat.”We\u2019re just trying to stay in the shade,” Michelle Barr said. “We have a little fan for .””I\u2019m just having some water,” Doug Yesho said. “I\u2019m used to it. I work outside.”Extreme heat warning: Severe weather alerts in effect for Western PennsylvaniaVisitors and vendors both did what they could to enjoy day one of the decades-long summer tradition.”Cooling towels and a lot of water,” said Michael Ricciuti, of BFR Crafts N\u2019at. “It\u2019s about all you can do today.””It is rough,” said Samantha Schneider, of Big Black Grill. “A lot of water, a lot of fans, taking breaks.”Schneider is one of 40 food vendors and 200 artists. She is spending her hot weekend in a food truck.”We have to actually staff the trucks over what we normally would because we need to take that many breaks,” Schneider said. “But I\u2019m excited. Wait until Friday, Saturday and Sunday. It\u2019s going to be bumping and kicking.”Looking for more news in your area | Subscribe to the WTAE YouTube ChannelAccording to organizers, the heat isn\u2019t the problem.”We can deal with the heat,” Johnston said. “We try to keep everybody hydrated. We make sure we have misting stations throughout the park.”Additional EMS crews and hydration stations are placed throughout the 400-plus-acre park this weekend — one that, by the end, is expecting over 100,000 people.”The people who come out are just wonderful,” Ricciuti said. “We had people from all over the place. There was somebody from Florida here earlier today.”That\u2019s why craft vendors aren\u2019t worried about getting a little sun.”People love to come to craft festivals, and this is one of those ones that brings people out every time, so it\u2019s not a bad thing,” Ricciuti said.”There’s something for everybody here,” Johnston said. “They can take everything home, have a good time, meet people, make friends.”The festival runs with music acts and activities all day through Sunday, July 5.Download the WTAE app to stay connected with breaking news. Sign up for our email newsletters to get breaking news in your inbox.\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\tUNITY TOWNSHIP, Pa. \u2014 \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
Organizers with the Westmoreland Arts and Heritage Festival<\/a> are ready for its 52nd year of celebrating culture.<\/p>\n “We started out very small at Seton Hill College,” said Lynn Johnston, the festival\u2019s board chairwoman. “We\u2019ve moved, and we\u2019re so happy and grateful. We\u2019re here to bring different cultures to Westmoreland County.”<\/p>\n However, to do that, organizers and visitors at Twin Lakes Park are finding their own ways to handle the heat.<\/p>\n “We\u2019re just trying to stay in the shade,” Michelle Barr said. “We have a little fan for [our son].”<\/p>\n “I\u2019m just having some water,” Doug Yesho said. “I\u2019m used to it. I work outside.”<\/p>\n Extreme heat warning: Severe weather alerts in effect for Western Pennsylvania<\/a><\/p>\n Visitors and vendors both did what they could to enjoy day one of the decades-long summer tradition.<\/p>\n “Cooling towels and a lot of water,” said Michael Ricciuti, of BFR Crafts N\u2019at. “It\u2019s about all you can do today.”<\/p>\n “It is rough,” said Samantha Schneider, of Big Black Grill. “A lot of water, a lot of fans, taking breaks.”<\/p>\n Schneider is one of 40 food vendors and 200 artists. She is spending her hot weekend in a food truck.<\/p>\n “We have to actually staff the trucks over what we normally would because we need to take that many breaks,” Schneider said. “But I\u2019m excited. Wait until Friday, Saturday and Sunday. It\u2019s going to be bumping and kicking.”<\/p>\n Looking for more news in your area | Subscribe to the WTAE YouTube Channel<\/a><\/p>\n According to organizers, the heat isn\u2019t the problem.<\/p>\n “We can deal with the heat,” Johnston said. “We try to keep everybody hydrated. We make sure we have misting stations throughout the park.”<\/p>\n Additional EMS crews and hydration stations are placed throughout the 400-plus-acre park this weekend — one that, by the end, is expecting over 100,000 people.<\/p>\n “The people who come out are just wonderful,” Ricciuti said. “We had people from all over the place. There was somebody from Florida here earlier today.”<\/p>\n That\u2019s why craft vendors aren\u2019t worried about getting a little sun.<\/p>\n “People love to come to craft festivals, and this is one of those ones that brings people out every time, so it\u2019s not a bad thing,” Ricciuti said.<\/p>\n “There’s something for everybody here,” Johnston said. “They can take everything home, have a good time, meet people, make friends.”<\/p>\n The festival runs with music acts and activities all day through Sunday, July 5.<\/p>\n Download the WTAE app<\/a> to stay connected with breaking news. Sign up for our email newsletters<\/a> to get breaking news in your inbox.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Organizers with the Westmoreland Arts and Heritage Festival are ready for its 52nd year of celebrating culture.”We started…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":234310,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[23119,4329,32817,101140,101145,2922,101144,101143,2092,6438,28,30,29,523,101142,1837,2867,101141,101139],"class_list":["post-234309","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pennsylvania","tag-break","tag-day","tag-heat","tag-heritage-festival-underway","tag-hot-weekend","tag-lot","tag-lynn-johnston","tag-michael-ricciuti","tag-more-news","tag-organizer","tag-pennsylvania","tag-pennsylvania-headlines","tag-pennsylvania-news","tag-people","tag-samantha-schneider","tag-sunday","tag-water","tag-westmoreland-arts","tag-westmoreland-arts-and-heritage-festival"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234309","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=234309"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234309\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/234310"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=234309"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=234309"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=234309"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}