ASHLAND — Despite being dealt a couple of severe blows by Mother Nature, the Central Park portion of Ashland’s Summer Motion festival came off without a hitch on Saturday.

The severe storm that ripped through the region Friday evening knocked down numerous trees in the park, forcing the start times for some activities to be pushed back while cleanup was taking place. Also, temperatures were near 100 degrees for the second day in a row, which made for uncomfortable conditions for festival attendees.

Summer Motion President Chuck Charles also said he had little doubt the fact thousands of local residents were dealing with power outages and post-storm cleanup affected Saturday’s attendance.

“But, for the ones who are here, we’ll celebrate,” he said.

Charles said there was never any thought given to postponing the Central Activities. And, he said he was proud of the way the festival’s committee members and volunteers responded to the adverse conditions.

“I want to say things have been excellent, but, it has really been more powerful than excellent considering the circumstances we were dealt,” he said.

Charles also praised Prichard’s Tree Service, as well as the inmate workers from the Boyd County Detention Center, for helping put the park back in shape.

One event in which participation was noticeably down from years past was the car show. Charles said that was likely because many show car owners didn’t want to bring their vehicles into the park after the storm because they were concerned about them being damaged by falling limbs.

A couple of traditional favorite events — the worm race and the watermelon-eating contest — had to be pushed back a day. Those will begin at 1 p.m. today.

Still, there was no shortage of activities to enjoy on Saturday, from the carefully choreographed mayhem of Ohio Championship Wrestling to live music to a contest featuring some of the area’s top culinary artists pitting their skills against one another.

The year’s chef challenge featured two-member teams from the Ashland Fire Department, Cheddar’s Casual Cafe and Our Lady of Bellefonte Hospital. The theme of the contest was “Heart-Healthy Eating,” and each team was required to prepare a soup, salad and entree that conformed to that.

The AFD team — Jared Chamberlin and Mat McAllister — emerged victorious, beating out last year’s winner, Chef Scott Sutton, who headed the OLBH team.

Chamberlin and McAllister prepared a carrot-ginger soup, a salad of mixed greens with oranges and walnuts and, for their entree, sweet-glazed grilled breast with red peppers, mangoes and bok choy, or Chinese cabbage.

The entree seemed a bit fancier than typical firehouse fare, but Chamberlin insisted the firefighters at the AFD’s Central Station, for whom he cooks regularly, enjoy dishes like that all the time.

“We collect their money (to buy groceries) and they tell us to go nuts,” he said.

However, Chamberlin, a member of the AFD for three years, acknowledged there are a few more senior firefighters who prefer simpler dishes.

“They’d have fried fish every day if they could,” he said.

One new addition to the festival this year was the American Heart Association’s HeartChase, sponsored by Our Lady of Bellefonte Hospital.

The event, which will be an annual Summer Motion event, pitted teams against one another, and it wasn’t confined to Central Park. Participants went throughout the city and performed physical and mental challenges at 10 designated checkpoints.

The HeartChase course took contestants from the starting point in the park to  Bellefonte Pediatrics, the Paramount Arts Center, the Jesse Stuart Foundation, Community Hospice, Community Trust Bank, the Boyd County Public Library, WLGC, Home Federal Bank, Ashland Sporting Goods and the cabin in Central Park.

The challenges included physical tests such as a bicycle obstacle course, jumping rope and a relay race, and mental tests like building a meal under a certain number of calories and an “Are You Smarter than a Fifth Grader?” nutrition quiz.

KENNETH HART can be reached at khart@dailyindependent.com or (606) 326-2654.