On a sweltering day, some had a sweet — and free — reason to smile

Amid the bustle of pedestrians downtown on Ohio Street Friday afternoon, one chirpy phrase rang out.

“Free popsicle?” Jasmine Trevino, 26, asked people trudging through Friday’s stifling humidity.

That humidity — matched by an equally crippling heat — is expected to continue through Saturday.

Yet, Trevino, cheeks flush, managed a cheeriness that somehow endured the full hour she stood outside the ACME Hotel, where she works. Management, she said, decided it would be a “nice thing” to offer free popsicles in Friday’s stifling heat. Employees handed them out in one-hour shifts.

“I want to make people feel happy,” said Trevino, next to a colorful sign telling passersby to “Be cool.”

But this is Chicago — a city that hardly slows down for anything, even record-hot temperatures — so some people ignored or refused Trevino’s sugary offer — at first.

The funniest part, Trevino said, were the “people who said they didn’t want a popsicle, but when they got closer, wanted it.”

She offered popsicle after popsicle to everyone. A police officer. A family of five.

“You’re an angel,” one man said, his brisk pace interrupted for just a moment to grab the free treat.

Trevino brought 108 popsicles for her shift — but needed 109. A couple walked by just as she was down to her final popsicle.

“You can share it,” Trevino said.