SAN FRANCISCO – The week-long heat wave has been great for businesses in coastal cities like Half Moon Bay, Sausalito and San Francisco.

The scorching heat pushed a lot of inland neighbors to cool off along the Pacific Coast.

“We see a lot of guests coming from Sacramento, the East Bay, even the Central Valley will come up for overnight, just to get away from the heat because it’s so unbearable,” said Bob Partrite, CEO of Fog Harbor Fish House at Pier 39 in San Francisco.

Partrite said the length of the heat wave gave them time to bring in more food, alcohol and chefs and servers to handle the rush. He said the heat has been great for business since Monday.

“We’ve got five restaurants here, so we’ve seen a 15 to 20 percent increase depending on the day,” Partrite said.

Many retailers said sales are also heating up for them with a lot of inland shoppers.

Dylan Defreitas owns three shops at Pier 39.

“We’re probably seeing about 20 to 30 percent more [customers]. It’s a big jump for us,” Defreitas said. 

Defreitas stocked up his stores with extra merchandise and added two to three more workers this weekend.

“Getting the stores with as full of products as we can. We have extra people here today. We’re probably going to be here late, we’re going to be staying late,” Defreitas said.

Not just the stores, but the local beaches were packed with people.

“We decided to have a fun beach day. We have a picnic going with some food and we’re just enjoying the nice heat,” said beach-goer Gemma Estevez, who was visiting from Southern California. Estevez and a group of friends were enjoying the sun at Crissy Field Beach.

Nearby Baker Beach and Ocean Beach also had a lot of visitors.

“It’s absolutely gorgeous with the view of the Golden Gate Bridge, which never gets old.  I might even get into the water today,” said beach-goer Chloe Neilson.

Some families also fired up the grills at the local beaches.

“Our house is way too hot right now. San Francisco doesn’t have A/C because it doesn’t typically need it. So, this is very unusual.  Better to get outside and enjoy it than to melt at home,” said San Francisco resident and beach-goer Emilie Boras.

While this heat wave was rare for San Francisco, Partrite said he and nearby business owners needed it. They were thriving under the sun.

“Anytime we can get this amount of people coming on a Monday to Thursday or Monday to Friday outside of our Summer months is a big bonus,” Partrite said.

With Fleet Week several days away, retailers believed any leftover merchandise that they ordered extra for this weekend would likely be sold by next weekend. They plan to staff up for the air show as well.

7ads6x98y

The Colorado School of Mines football team’s three-year RMAC win streak ended in the same place the last one did — inside Stocker Stadium on the Western Slope.

Colorado Mesa quarterback Liu Aumavae threw a pair of touchdown passes in the fourth quarter, and the Mavericks rallied from 13 points down to upset fourth-ranked Mines, 14-13, and claim the Nyikos Cup on Saturday.

A two-point conversion put the Mavericks (3-2, 2-1 RMAC) over the top, with Sam Horneck getting it done on a reverse option pass that handed Mines (4-1, 2-1 RMAC) its first RMAC loss in three years.

The Orediggers’ last conference defeat also came at Colorado Mesa — a 26-21 loss on Oct. 23, 2021, that ended a 14-game conference win streak. Mines won 23 straight RMAC games after that en route to two NCAA Division II championship game trips. But after playing with fire in back-to-back narrow road wins to start the season, the Orediggers were unable to stave off the Mavericks on Saturday.

Mines quarterback Evan Foster hooked up with Max McLeod for a 10-yard touchdown in the first quarter to open the scoring. McLeod finished with seven catches for 92 yards, breaking Brody Oliver’s program record of 4,010 career receiving yards in the process.

A punt block set up the Orediggers at the Mavs’ 9-yard line in the second quarter. Three plays later, Landon Walker dove into the end zone for a 13-0 lead after Mines missed the point-after attempt.

The Orediggers didn’t score again, however, as Foster was sacked five times and finished 14-of-30 passing for 159 yards, a touchdown and two interceptions.

Aumavae found Trevin Edwards for a 6-yard touchdown on the first play of the fourth quarter, but the PAT was blocked by Jaden Healy to keep the Orediggers’ lead at 13-6.

After Mines punted on its next possession, CMU chewed up 5 minutes, 41 seconds of clock with an 11-play, 98-yard march that ended with Aumavae connecting with Quezon Villa for a 9-yard score. After the trick play two-point conversion gave CMU a 14-13 lead, Mines had two possessions to drive for the winning score but came up empty both times. A strip sack recovered by the Mavericks ended the game.

RMAC football

Saturday’s scores

CSU Pueblo 67, New Mexico Highlands 28

Chadron State 52, Adams State 3

Black Hills State 22, South Dakota Mines 20

Fort Lewis at Western Colorado, n.

Want more sports news? Sign up for the Sports Omelette to get all our analysis on Denver’s teams.

Originally Published: October 5, 2024 at 7:26 p.m.