Blackwell leaders help community fight heatwave

The City of Blackwell has been trying to beat the heat this week. Sunday night, the City of Blackwell announced on their official Facebook page that the Memorial Pool would be altering their hours through Friday, July 22. This week, the Memorial Pool is only open from 5 p.m. until 10 p.m. to “give relief to the lifeguards and pool patrons”.

The pool will return to normal hours of 1 p.m. through 6 p.m. this Friday. Monday, the City of Blackwell once again made an announcement, stating they were opening the Blackwell Event Center on south Main Street on Tuesday to residents looking for cool air.

Mayor T.J. Greenfield came up with the idea, and got by with help from Blackwell Walmart who provided cases of water for the “cooling station”.

“I noticed that another community had posted on social media offering a similar opportunity,” Greenfield said, “that gave me the idea.” Greenfield continued: “The City of Blackwell has a facility which can be utilized in many ways, this time it can serve as a cooling facility to those in need. I’m happy to see the information I passed on to our City Manager, Jerry Wieland, was put into action so quickly. I want to thank him and all of our employees that are working together to make our community better every day.:”

City Manager Jerry Wieland said that they’re monitoring “all aspects” of the situation.

“The City of Blackwell is committed to providing up-to-date information on the current heat conditions. All measure have been taken into account to provide a safe working environment for our employees and to provide all that we can for the citizens of Blackwell.

We are constantly monitoring all aspects as this heat wave continues.”