By Sara Gregory
sgregory@salisburypost.com
Cold water on a hot day feels good to just about everyone.
“When we run through the water, it feels good,” 6-year-old Destiny Turner says. “You get to play with people in the water.”
Fire trucks from Liberty, Miller’s Ferry, Rockwell Rural and Union hooked up to two sprinklers that shot water in the air well over Turner’s head.
The water rained down on several hundred kids from Rowan County, celebrating warm weather at Dan Nicholas Park’s annual Water Day.
“It’s just something extra for the kids,” says Cathy Burgess, who works at the park. “They really look forward to it.”
Union firefighter Eric Schenk says the kids got to splash around in about 20,000 gallons of water.
“They love it,” he says.
The water brought shrieks of laughter as kids ran through the sprinklers.
“It’s actually really freezing. It’s really cold,” says Ben Ham, a 7-year-old from Salisbury.
How cold?
“It’s cold cold,” 12-year-old Dieon Hopkins says.
Kids from local YMCAs and schools also got a chance to meet new people at the park. Hopkins says meeting new people is his favorite part of the day.
The firefighters also sprayed the kids with a water cannon.
“Once that thing starts, it goes everywhere,” Burgess says.
And many kids played with large beach balls, passing the ball from one to another and watching the water pressure from the sprinklers shoot the ball up into the air.
“If you put the ball on top of the water, it’ll fly up,” 4-year-old Jabore Miller says.
His face dripping with water, Miller says his favorite part was running and jumping in the water.