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By Amelia Tarallo
Hometown Weekly Staff
Every parent is trying to find a way to beat the heat this summer. From trips to pools, ponds, lakes, and the ocean to a sprinkler in the backyard, it seems impossible. Last week was especially rough, with temperatures reaching into the 90s.
Luckily for kids (and their parents), Wednesday, July 10, was Westwood’s 31st annual fireman’s foam celebration. DJ Magic Mark played some excellent tunes, and parents waited on the side of the field with towels at the ready. Their kids gathered, waiting for the main event: a field of foam.
With two dozen bottles of soap, a fire-fighting hose, and a red attachment, the Westwood Fire Department turned Sheehan Field into a giant white puff. Children were eager to start, many snapping on a pair of swim goggles before jumping straight into the foam. From the moment they stepped in, it was like something out of a fairytale bubble bath. A few kids rolled the soap into balls to throw at one another, creating a foamy snowball fight. The soap eventually got taller than some of the kids, with the more vertically challenged individuals reemerging resembling bubbly versions of the Marshmallow Man from Ghostbusters. Some kids even made attempts to swim in the giant sudsy pile, diving under only to grab their friend’s feet and scare them. The more courageous kids ran straight towards the hose and got directly covered in the soap.
For some of the younger kids, the soap was a lot less scary and cold than the normal sprinklers and pools. A few of the youngest, only a few months old, wandered straight into the soap, away from their smiling parents. Other parents helped their little ones into the soap, holding them up so they could dip their tiny toes into the foam as they squirmed in delight at the fun texture. One little boy who curiously ventured in held up a white puff to his mom. One group of girls enjoyed splashing each other with the bubbles, picking up handfuls and throwing them onto one another. Parents took the opportunity to snap some hysterically funny pictures of their kids playing in the giant mass of lather.
When the kids needed a break from the suds or had enough of being human snowmen, fire fighters were ready to wash them off with a separate hose spraying only water.
By the end of the event, the white puff had turned brown from all the playing. Kids retreated to their parents, cooled down from the hot summer’s day and ready to go home for an afternoon snack.
The fireman’s foam may have served as a temporary fix to beat the heat, but one thing’s for sure: those kids will never forget the day they got to wade into a massive pile of bubbles.
