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OSKALOOSA, Iowa — Saturday’s hot weather was enough for the National Weather Service to declare a Heat Advisory in most of southern Iowa, including in Oskaloosa.

The temperature needle danced close to the 100-degree mark on Saturday. Paired with oppressive humidity, and it’s no surprise most people stayed inside. However, a decent crowd did venture outside for something cool in Oskaloosa.

“I prepare for a day like this by taking five minutes and saying, ‘I can do this, these people want ice cream,'” said Myles Strait, who works at The Frosty Udder ice cream shop in Oskaloosa.

The Frosty Udder became one of the most popular places in town, with a drive-through line stretching the length of the building. Employees didn’t mind because they know how important ice cream can be on a day like this.

“The smile that comes on their face, it’s really worth it. It doesn’t matter how rough of a day I had, the moment I see it just makes everything feel better,” said Strait.

Meanwhile, a group of William Penn University students took a different approach. They went to Lake Keomah State Park to relax by the water.

“It’s nice. It’s still really hot, but the water is really cool and it’s really nice to be out here,” said Sydney Roush.

To their surprise, they were the only ones on the beach for most of the day.

“Maybe it’s too hot for everyone to come out here, I don’t really know, but it’s nice to have an empty beach,” said Roush.

That’s a relief for the Iowa DNR, which posted a warning that Lake Keomah has higher levels of E. coli than normal.

The water is an isolated risk, but the heat affected everyone. That’s why people there were doing whatever they could for relief from summer’s wrath.

“We got a little kiddie pool in our backyard, but that’s just not enough,” said Roush.

The heat is going to stick around for a while too, so people there are going to probably go through quite a bit of water and ice cream in the coming days.