Healdsburg Jazz Festival makes a sizzling comeback

HEALDSBURG, Calif. - Friday brought a third day of scorching temperatures to the Bay Area, but the promise of weekend relief.

"It's already starting, and Saturday will be cooler, then Sunday in the 80's, really mild," said Gayle Sullivan, Executive Director of the Healdsburg Jazz Festival.

The four-day outdoor event launched Thursday at the height of the heat wave.

"It was about 106 that day, but our show started at 5, and by 7 it was perfect!," said Sullivan.

For the second straight day, an evening Flex Alert came and went, and the state did not have to order rotating blackouts.

"We really thank all our Bay Area customers for conserving- those who were able to conserve- because it really did help, every little bit helps," said PG&E spokesperson Deanna Contreras.

Flex Alerts urge consumers to cut power use during peak times: steps such as closing drapes, darkening lights, keeping major appliances off and avoiding air conditioning, which strains the system.

Across the Bay Area, scattered outages have occurred, mostly due to equipment malfunctions in the heat.  

Thursday night 3300 households in East Santa Rosa, Kenwood and Glen Ellen were without power for about 90 minutes.

"We were just finishing dinner and hanging out, and everything went black," said Conor Hagen of Kenwood.

"It's really frightening, it's really concerning for it to be this hot and have outages this early in the summer."

PG&E has not pinpointed a reason for that Sonoma County outage.

"We had linemen go out and investigate and they couldn't find a visible fault so we don't really know that the cause was," said Contreras.

As conditions ease, those who run cooling centers are relieved health effects weren't worse.  

"We've all been trained on heat-related illnesses," said Rob Beal, Recreation Supervisor at the Finley Community Center in Santa Rosa, serving as an unofficial refuge from the heat.

"I've noticed if it's one or two days of high heat it doesn't bother people quite as much as if it's an extended time, three, four, or five days," said Beal.

Still, on Thursday, recreation staff at Santa Rosa's Howarth Park spotted a visitor overcome by heat, and called 911.

"They were showing weakness and sweating really heavily," said Beal.

"Walking in the park they got a little overheated and didn't have enough hydration apparently."

The individual declined to go in an ambulance, and was picked-up by a family member.

As people head outside for the weekend, poor air quality may also be a health concern.

Smoggy conditions are forcing a Spare the Air advisory, and auto travel is discouraged.

In Healdsburg, the 23rd annual jazz fest is sold-out all four days.

"We will create as much shade as possible and provide as much water as possible," said Sullivan.

2021 will be remembered as the year the festival made a COVID comeback, and both the music and weather were sizzling.

"The music has been great, we've created shade, and the drinks are cold," said Sullivan.

"It's been really wonderful and people love being together."

A Heat Advisory remains in effect Saturday for the North Bay hills, East Bay hills and inland valley.

A Heat Warning persists for Solano and Lake Counties as well.