How to Ensure Your Park Event Can Handle the Heat

Beat the heat with these tips and tricks

Here are some general guidelines to remember when organizing your park event when it’s hot outside: 

• Limit outdoor activities to before 10 AM and after 4 PM when the sun’s UV radiation is the weakest. Spend the hottest part of the day in air-conditioned places, like libraries or community centers. 
• Make sure to provide sheltered areas (e.g. tree canopies and tents) for guests to take refuge from the sun.  
• Request guests to wear light-coloured, loose-fitting, and thin clothing! You could provide or ask attendants to bring wide-brim hats, sunscreen, sunglasses, and umbrellas for protection.
• Prevent sunburns because they compromise the body’s ability to cool down. Advise guests to reapply sunscreen with an SPF of 30 or higher every two hours. 
• Look for humidexes when checking local weather forecasts because they describe how hot people will feel. 
• Practice responsible stewardship. Park staff have reported having to clean up massive amounts of trash, so please remember that part of enjoying nature includes cleaning up. 

Don’t forget about food & beverages

Providing refreshing food and drinks is a great way to ensure guests stay happy, healthy, and hydrated. When drafting your menu, here are some considerations to keep at the back of your mind: 

• Have a hydration station with access to water, sports drinks, and other beverages.
  • Remind your guests not to wait until they feel thirsty to take a sip of water! Health authorities recommend drinking six to eight glasses of water per day. 
  • Drink two to four glasses of water every hour if you exercise or do strenuous work in the heat.
  • Bring produce with high water content, such as oranges and tomatoes, which can be another source of hydration. 
• Set up near a park water fountain for easy access to an unlimited water source. However, remember to make sure other park-goers can also access the fountain. See below for links to maps of water fountain locations. 
• Try to limit alcohol consumption. Alcohol can be very dehydrating and when coupled with extreme heat, can increase the risk of dehydration and heat-related illness. If you will be drinking, opt for beverages with lower alcohol content, like light beers and ciders. 
• Remember that sweating can lead to a loss of electrolytes. If your event lasts longer than an hour, consider providing snacks with minerals, like magnesium and potassium, or sports drinks for guests to replenish themselves. 

Make sure meals and snacks are kept at the correct temperature to prevent food-borne illnesses and stop food from spoiling quickly in the heat. Check out Canada’s food safety website for ways to correctly and safely handle food stuffs.

Keep an eye out for heat-related illness

With extreme heat events also comes heat-related illness – when the body becomes hotter faster than it can cool down. Luckily, heat-related illness is preventable, so it is essential that you take the time to understand and prepare for it. 

• Familiarize yourselves with heat exhaustion and heat stroke symptoms, and stay vigilant. Regularly check in with children, people with chronic illnesses, and seniors because they may be more vulnerable. Here’s a poster from the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health Safety and a link from the Canadian Red Cross. 

• Remember to also check in with your volunteers, staff members, and event organizers to ensure they get enough breaks, keep cool, and stay hydrated, and remember to set some time aside for yourself as well! 
• Have a medical emergency plan that covers access to medical assistance and shaded areas and identifies the nearest indoor cool spaces. See below for links. 
• Have a contingency plan in case of air pollution from wildfire season or the heat worsens. You may have to be flexible and ready to move indoors, postpone, or even cancel your event. 
• Bring a first aid kit with supplies to treat heat exhaustion, such as a cooler stocked with bottles of cool water, DIY misters using spray bottles, and cooling gel or ice packs. 
• For more information, refer to these heat-related illness guides from the B.C., Ontario, and Québec governments. 

Municipal and National Resources: 

Leading up to the event, consult local weather forecasts and advisories. It may also be a good idea to get a lay of the land and determine where amenities are in the park. Here are a few resources to help with planning: 

Vancouver

• Website for maps of misting stations, cooling centres, and more 
• Map of water fountains, handwashing stations, and misting stations

Toronto

• Map of washrooms and sources of potable water 
• Map that lets you filter out locations by available amenities (water fountains, pools, community centers, etc.)

Montréal 

• Map of misting stations, cooling centres, and more 

National 

• For Environment Canada public weather alerts, check out this link. 
• For weather alerts and advisories, visit the Alertable website.