Western KY church says heat won't stop their picnic - 14 News, WFIE, Evansville, Henderson, Owensboro

The St. Mary Magdalene Church Picnic on Highway 56 starts Saturday around 3:00 p.m. and church officials say they're taking extra precautions to battle the heat.

As 14 time overall champions of Owensboro's International BBQ Festival, the St. Mary Magdalene Parish knows a lot about the heat.

Catholic Church picnics are more than just fun and games in Owensboro, they help raise money to fund the different parishes and Catholic Schools. No matter how hot Saturday gets, the cooking must go on.

"The games and booths open at 3:00 p.m. We may open a bit earlier due to the heat. We're going to have cooling stations set up at three different locations. We'll have EMT's out here. We've got two places designated to be cooking stations of where it's air conditioning. We do not want to have no one sick. We don't want no one to be hurt," said Father Mark Buckner.

As you can imagine, the people cooking the food over those huge fire pits and around burgoo kettles will have to be extra careful Saturday.

"Your fires and your burgoo kettles and everything. They're hotter than the heat outside anyhow. It's hot enough to smoke your clothes. It's a long day. We start doing it at 3:00 in the morning with our burgoo and we go to 4:30, 5:00 in the evening till it's done. You have to change out regularly on your job. Don't ever stay on the same pale long enough to overdue yourself," said veteran cook Fred Greenwell. 

Health officials also recommend "every 20 to 30 minutes, stop and take a break. Have some sort of sports drink to replace some of the sodium that your body's going to be losing," said Isaac Coffey with the Health and Fitness Owensboro Health Park.

Church officials say carry out for food will start about 3:00 p.m. this year to keep people from having to wait in the sun. They'll also have a drive through option so you can stay cool in you car.