COLLEGE CORNER, Ohio — In two months, a total solar eclipse will engulf parts of Butler County and Southeastern Indiana.
For about three and a half minutes, it’ll look like nighttime in the middle of the day.
Hannon’s Camp America, just north of Oxford, is right in the eclipse’s path of totality.
The camp is hosting “Dark Side of the Moon Music Festival”, with two full days of music acts prior to Monday’s eclipse.
“There’s been kind of a gung ho in the music festival scene to do an eclipse event,” campground manager Paul Hannon said.
For a $100 ticket, people get a place to camp, access to vendors, and a giant bonfire.
Ryan Venable, an organizer of the festival, said an empty field will become a huge dance floor “just full of people having the best time."
Regardless of whether or not it will be cloudy on April 8, the music the prior days shows “why there’s the value in coming,” Hannon said.
The festival expects between 500 and 1,000 attendees, but is hoping for more. Typically, April is not a time Hannon’s would see a large event. The eclipse is a creating an additional opportunity for business.
The music festival is planning a drum circle and ceremony during the actual eclipse. But that’s an extra flair to the real show in the sky.
“This is the most amazing astronomical thing you will ever see in your life,” said astronomer Dean Regas. “The sky turns in eerie silver, purple color, the stars pop out in the middle of daytime, animals think it's nighttime, people go crazy.”
Regas has seen ten solar eclipses, but this will be only his third total eclipse. To prepare fans for the “greatest show in the universe,” the astronomer is offering an online class about what to expect.
The eclipse will begin in the afternoon on Monday, April 8. If you’re in downtown Cincinnati, the moon’s shadow will engulf 99% of the sun.
“99% sounds great,” Regas said. “But it is not enough. You need to get to the totality part."
You can get that by going up I-75 North or I-74 West.
Franklin County, Indiana is in the path of totality. There, a group has been planning for a huge influx of people for over a year, including Ron Yurcak, president of the Whitewater Canal Byway Association.
“If you want to know the original thought process, it was actually ‘this is a joke,’” Yurack said of the idea of thousands coming to the area. “Then as we started researching it, we realized there was an enormous following for this kind of thing. We thought, okay, we better do something."
Now hotels are all booked, and the area is figuring out where to park everyone for the best view.
“It’s really mind-boggling to think that all this is going to happen, for three minutes 21 seconds worth of glory,” Yurcak said, wearing a logo’d shirt that states the county’s slogan: “don’t get caught in alone in the dark.”
Getting caught alone is unlikely. The county was estimated to see an influx anywhere between 20,000 and one million visitors.
“That means nobody knows!” Candy Yurcak, Board Member of the Whitewater Canal Byway Association said. “That's what's making this kind of fun. You really have no idea how to plan.”
In Connersville in Fayette County, Indiana, tens of thousands of people could be a potentially heavy strain, said tourism board president Donna Schroeder.
“We don’t have the amenities and the infrastructure for 50,000 extra people,” she said. “That’s just the way it is.”
While knowing the influx of visitors is coming, they’re also focusing on making sure locals feel part of the action.
For example, the Connersville History Museum will be a central part of the weekend.
“We’re hoping to keep this more low key, which probably won’t happen of course,” Schroeder said.
Johns Brothers General Store in downtown Connersville is planning a Moon Pie themed eclipse party.
“We view this as an opportunity to showcase what Connersville and our, you know, larger community have to offer,” said co-owner Brayton Johns.
Johns is also on an eclipse planning committee for Fayette County. He said he’s excited about the prospect of individuals not just filling out Central Avenue, but taking advantage of the beauty of the community before and after the three minutes of totality.
“We're excited to just kind of highlight how cool small towns really are and how much character they have,” he said. “They're a part of the American story and they are coming back to life.”
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