They hit the pool.

“This has been our busiest week so far,” said Londa Thrasher, pool manager of the Brown Pool in Pendleton. “In the last week we have had over 3,000 people come to the pool.”

The Brown Pool, which had its highest attendance of the year on Tuesday with 703 people, has seen a huge increase in attendace since the heat wave started last week.

“We’ve sold a ton of cool drinks and things from our concession stand,” she said. “We can’t even keep enough ice cream in stock, it’s literally flying out of the freezer. But that’s a good problem for us to have.”

Thrasher believes that people are looking to the pool for a cheap way to keep from overheating during the current economic downturn.

“If you compare it to a movie, it’s way cheaper because we only charge $4 for admission. People are coming from all over and they bring coolers and picnics; they end up just staying for the whole day.”

But there is a light in these very hot times: the temperature, although almost unbearable now, may be cooling down over the weekend.

“Friday may be the last day of stifling humidity for a while,” Meteorologist Chad Omitt said. “A strong cold front will be moving through on Satuday night and Sunday morning so next week should be in the low 80’s and even upper 70’s during the day.”

But until the temperature finally dips back out of the 90s, Thrasher has a piece of advice that everyone should hear: “It’s double cool to stay cool in the pool.”

The doctor’s orders

Dr. William Anderson M.D. of Community Family Physicians in Anderson made a list of things to do, and not to do, when out in the heat:

* Don’t do things you’re not conditioned to do

* Continuously hydrate with water and sports drinks meant to replace electrolytes

* Find shade

* Plan activities so that you aren’t outside at the hottest times of the day