Communities across the region are preparing for this year’s total solar eclipse, visible Aug. 21 in the U.S.
Aurora, too, will be joining those communities in hosting celebrations for the event, which is expected to draw anywhere from 50,000 to 250,000 visitors to parts of the area. Kenlake State Resort Park intends to be ready for the potential crowds.
Park Manager Michael Duffy said the park will host a series of events in the weekend leading up to the eclipse, including activities with Mark Williams, otherwise known as the “StarGeezer.” Williams, an astronomer and radio personality who provides educational seminars and information related to astronomy throughout Kentucky and Indiana, will host sessions during the weekend beginning with a pre-dawn outdoor telescope observation at 5 a.m. Friday, Aug. 18. Activities throughout the weekend will include outdoor viewing parties, solar viewing and “Meet the StarGeezer” dinner meet and greet, among other activities at the Kenlake State Park Lodge.
On the day of the eclipse, Duffy said the park would open public viewing at the tennis center. Admission will be free and open to the public.
“We’re not going to charge admission or anything like that,” Duffy said. “But we will take donations for a group of ladies that provide Christmas presents to underprivileged families. For me that’s a good balance.”
Duffy said that given so many unknown variables surrounding the eclipse as well, such as weather conditions that may prevent viewing in the area and send hard core followers elsewhere, no one really knew what to expect.
Still, the park was preparing for capacity crowds; lodging at the park has already booked for the weekend. Duffy said he’d been attending area emergency management meetings on the eclipse, and Kenlake intended to have additional rangers in the area to help manage traffic issues and crowds.
“It’s hard to process and get a handle on it,” Duffy said. “I could have police and volunteers and all these people on staff down there doing different events, and then these people have already decided where they want to go and where they want to be and they don’t want anything to do with us besides a place to stay. … You’re also, as a park, you’re committed to recreation. Recreation is really about what we can do to create an experience.”
Like Kenlake, Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area officials are also unsure of just how many visitors to plan to accommodate or what factors will influence that number. Land Between the Lakes Communications Specialist Jennifer Wheatley said the recreation area is planning for about 50,000 visitors throughout that weekend. That number is equivalent with about the traffic seen on a busy holiday weekend, Wheatley said.
The recreation area is working to make visitors aware of areas at which the best viewing opportunites exist through brochures, posters and online. Officials visited regions of the area last August to get an idea of the sun’s position in the sky in relation to landscape to give potential viewers the best idea of where those sight opportunities would be. In addition, the recreation area will close camping for the weekend at Fenton and open the area for public observation the day of the eclipse. The Friends of LBL group will assist in the effort with goodies for visitors, as well.
“(We’ll have) food vendors and a pop-up store at Fenton,” Wheatley said. “That’ll be merchandise that the Friends have available in our gift facilities already. Some of it will be available there probably in a tent.”
The goal, according to Public Affairs Specialist Janice Wilson, was for Land Between the Lakes to serve as additional support for area activities rather than to host its own festival.
“Our whole goal with the eclipse was not to be an event, not to be a festival, not to be a feature,”Wilson said. “But when people are coming in from all over the place and are going to be here for, generally, at least three days: ‘What else can I do in the area?’ This is what else you can do in the area. So, we’re not trying to take anybody away from any of the other surrounding communities. We’re hoping the go to the surrounding communities and then come here also as something else to do while they’re staying in the communities.”
While crowd control and safety is also in the minds of recreation area officials, Wheatley said their biggest safety concern was that visitors use appropriate eyewear during the eclipse. Land Between the Lakes staff is giving eclipse viewing glasses away at facilities through Memorial Day weekend.
“They have to wear those glasses,” Wheatley said. “Sunglasses won’t do. You cannot look with your eyes. Wear the glasses.”
Wheatley also advised visitors not to get distracted with social media and technology during the event. While it might be tempting to try to stream the event, Wheatley said countless outlets would have the footage online.
“This is for most of us … a once in a lifetime thing,” Wheatley said. “And finding a place where you can see it and enjoy it, one of our folks up at the planetarium gave a little lead up program on Astronomy Day, and he said, ‘Please don’t mess with your phone. There will be so much NASA footage of this, it’ll be on so many websites, put your phone in your pocket, put your glasses on your face and be right there in the moment and enjoy it.’ … I just thought that is great advice.”
The Women of the Aurora Community Park Activities Committee, or “WACPAC,” will also host a Total Eclipse of the Park event during the eclipse. In a previous interview, WACPAC member Bonnie Kincannon said the group plans to host local food and craft vendors, as well as farmer’s market produce, in the park that weekend.
For more information on Kenlake activities for the weekend, watch here for updates. For a complete listing of LBL viewing areas, visit here. For more information on WACPAC activities, visit the Aurora Community Park on Facebook.