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Hurling Snowballs on Summer Solstice an Annual Event

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What could be a better way to spend the first official day of summer than throwing snowballs? It was expected to hit 90 degrees or better in Pittsburgh this year, which makes it easy to see how the tradition, which started well over a decade ago, has gotten so popular.

Annual day for snowballs

These aren’t ordinary balls of snow, though they started out that way. Folks from across greater Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, “came by the score carrying snowballs in coolers, plastic storage containers and plastic bags, anything that would keep the icy spheroids cold.” They’ve been taking up freezer space since winter.

The city’s Carnegie Science Center hosts an annual “Snowball Day” every year on the summer solstice. It started in 2006 and caught on quick.

Because they have hardened to solid ice by now, these aren’t suitable for a snowball fight. Instead, the science center will help you learn the physics and ballistics of hurling snowballs into the Ohio River. Heather Linton brought her kids all the way from Cranberry.

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I’ve been bringing the kids to this snowball event since they were little,” she relates. “In the winter, we collect the snowballs and put them in the freezer and come down on the first day of summer and throw them in the river.

Heather’s 19-year-old daughter wouldn’t miss it. This kind of fun isn’t something you outgrow. “I’m an adult now but I still like doing it,” she admits. Everyone loves cheap thrills and this is a great one.

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Most of the participants are youngsters and toddlers. They could spend all day using “slingshots and other methods to launch their snowballs into the Ohio.” Some 1,500 people were expected.

Adapt and modify

Beth King of East Huntingdon is no toddler. The 54-year-old former crime lab chemist was holding a bag of snowballs for her 12-year-old son Nathaniel. She’s thrilled with the science lessons in all of it.

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Everything from “the challenge of keeping a snowball cold on a summer day” to “the physics of how snowballs follow a flight path into the river.” These kids won’t be building bridges that have WiFi but not support cables, like that engineering school in Florida designed.

Anything developed with science can be used for other things,” Beth explains. “It’s not just the original purpose. You use the scientific principles to serve something else, whether it’s physics or biology, adapt and modify is how science works.

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Nathaniel had no idea he was learning anything important. “It’s just fun,” he says. Andy King, a 58-year-old resident of nearby Bellevue brought his 5-year-old grandson Oliver. They had a little snag. They “forgot to save snowballs from last winter.” Not to be left out of the fun, they “ground ice and put it in some cups.” Oliver didn’t mind. “I want to do it some more,” he begged.

Mr. King wasn’t the only one to arrive without ammo. “For anyone who didn’t save a snowball, the Science Center made some with a snow cone machine.” There were lots of the real thing to go around though.

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We have a lot of excited people here with their snowballs, a steady stream since we opened at 10 a.m.,” boasts Carnegie Science Center program director Brad Peroney.” We’re really happy with what we’re seeing today. People are having a blast. Winter will be back before you know it so it’s fun to play with the snow today knowing we don’t have to go home and shovel those driveways and clear off the cars.

What do you think?

Written by Mark Megahan

Mark Megahan is a resident of Morristown, Arizona and aficionado of the finer things in life.

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