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| The Great American Eclipse, viewed from Ozark, Arkansas (c) David Herbert 2024 |
I traveled to Arkansas a few weeks ago so I could experience the Great American Eclipse in my home state--near, in fact, to my hometown. I viewed the event from a bluff high above the Arkansas River, just outside Ozark (population 3684), one of two county seats of Franklin County.
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| Arkansas River, southwest of Ozark, AR (c) Lisa R. Pruitt 2024 |
Ozark is one of the small cities in the zone of totality that promoted itself as an eclipse destination. (Larger Russellville, population 30,000, less than an hour away, also promoted itself and was designated by NASA as a top-10 eclipse viewing destination). The numerous porta potties around the courthouse square were evidence of the preparation, as were signs like those in the photos I'm posting here. (Fun fact about Ozark: It's a colloquialism of "aux arc", which is what the French, colonial powers, called the place because of the deep bend in the Arkansas River).
Meanwhile, my home county, Newton County, did not promote itself as an eclipse destination. In contrast to Ozark, Newton County brought only four porta potties into the county, four in the county seat, Jasper, and two in the hamlet of Mt. Judea.
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| Rearranging the porta potties (JR Handycans) in Ozark, Arkansas on April 7, 2024 (c) Lisa R. Pruitt 2024 |
Here's what the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported on the turnout there:
A couple of thousand people milled around downtown Jasper and Bradley Park on Monday as the moon began crossing the path of the sun.
Russ Todd, owner of the Ozark Cafe, said he had plenty of customers on Monday. He said Saturday was normal but business really began picking up on Sunday.
"I've got all the business I need," he said, referring not only to the day of the Great American Eclipse, but every day, in general.
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| Ozark Cafe, Jasper, Arkansas, April 8, 2024 |
As far back as the summer of 2022, predictions were that Jasper, population 547, and Newton County, population 7,228, should prepare for an influx of at least 25,000 people for the eclipse, but crowds were nowhere near those levels on Monday.
"As far as I know we didn't run out of gas, stuff like that that they said was going to happen," said Todd. "Stores were going to be wiped clean. We even got a flyer in the mail that said stock up on everything, I think it was overkill a little bit."
The story further reports on a local conflict over whether the town wanted visitors or not. Clearly, not everyone was on the same page.
Representatives from the Mt. Judea Area Alliance reported it has began publicizing the event on its Facebook page to make residents aware of the effects it may have on the community in the way of the number of visitors that may come to see the event.
"We are expecting thousands. That’s a lot of people coming whether we want it to or not. We need to be ready and to make the absolute best of it. All these people coming in to the area will want a little piece of clear sky to view the eclipse. Most will come a day or two before the eclipse to ensure a good spot and to enjoy the local area. Our roads will mostly likely be highly congested and traveling anywhere whether it’s for groceries or doctors’ appointments or anything else is projected to be near impossible to do in any timely manner. So, here’s just a touch of what you may want to do to prepare:
"Reschedule or don’t schedule any appointments from April 5th to April 10th, just to be on the safe side.
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| Newton County Courthouse Square Jasper, Arkansas April 8, 2024 |
Make sure you have enough groceries, water, gas, MEDICATION, or anything else you might need to hold you over during the same time frame.
"Plan to not leave home or the area during this time, if possible, as it will probably be cumbersome if not near impossible to travel our roads.
"BONUS: You may want to check on utilizing your property, rental home, etc. to allow those people coming in to stay in or camp on. This could be a big opportunity to cash in on a little extra Christmas money! There will probably not be anywhere near the motel space, camping spaces, Air B&B’s, rental cabins, etc needed to accommodate everyone coming to the area. {You may want to check on extra insurance if you decide to do this. Most insurance companies have an “event” insurance that is a one time fee to cover a specific event days. It’s as easy as making a phone call.) Or, if you don’t want them staying, you may choose to set up a table and canopy on your property (depending where you live) and sell water, t-shirts, baked goods (be sure to check cottage food laws), cups, or other memorabilia items that they might be interested in.
"There is already an eclipse committee for Newton County and they have been busy since last year planning for safety, medical services, police services, etc. There is a public Facebook page that offers access to some extra information on the eclipse, if you use Facebook. It is “Eclipse 2024 Newton County, AR”. If you have any questions, you can reach out to us and we will do our best to answer or help. We are just about 9 months away from the eclipse. What a blessing to be us and have the best seats to view it without having to travel to enjoy it."
It was noted the Alliance is joining with the American Legion in preparation of the eclipse. The groups have been able to secure four portable toilets, two at the Legion Hut and two in Mt. Judea for a week. The cost is $150 each, but does not include the cost for emptying them. Outside sources are being sought to perform this task.
The Newton County Times first reported on local eclipse preparation in May, 2022, and by Sept. 19, 2022, the headline was "Time running out to prepare for the eclipse."
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| Ozark, Arkansas on April 7 (c) Lisa R. Pruitt 2024 |
As for other parts of the state, initial reports of eclipse tourism in the southwest area suggest disappointment in the turnout there, too, as the Democrat-Gazette reported here. An excerpt follows:
Three small-town southwest Arkansas mayors said in phone interviews that the numbers the Arkansas Department of Parks, Heritage and Tourism told them to prepare for for Monday's eclipse didn't bear out.
"It's pretty much a bust. Our numbers are not nearly what we were told they were going to be," said Murfreesboro Mayor Jim O'Neal. "We've got entertainment, we've got the diamond mine; we anticipated 40,000-plus visitors, and we did not even begin to come close to that."
Crater of Diamonds State Park was seeing decent patronage over the weekend and directing visitors beyond their capacity into town. Some businesses did OK, but O'Neal said the event was "a major disappointment" and expects the city government to take a financial loss. Chamber of commerce and other planned local fundraisers went for naught.
"We rented port-a-potties and empty trash dumpsters, and they're of very little use," O'Neal said. "It obviously cost us a lot of money. It cost us money we didn't recoup because of this exaggerated number."
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| Porta potties lined up in front of the district court Ozark, AR on April 7 (c) Lisa R. Pruitt 2024 |
A Democrat-Gazette story the next day had a more optimistic cast, suggesting that 200,000 folks had visited the state's parks for the eclipse:
Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in early March that anywhere between 300,000 to a million visitors could travel to the state for the eclipse.
Despite grumblings from some merchants and restaurateurs over crowds that left them with surplus food and merchandise, state officials seemed pleased with how the state fared with the eclipse.
According to a statement from Shea Lewis, secretary of the Arkansas Department of Parks, Heritage and Tourism, Arkansas Welcome Centers greeted more than 41,000 visitors from dozens of states and 14 countries.
"This years' solar eclipse introduced Arkansas to new visitors from around the country and around the world," Lewis said. "We're thrilled so many came to enjoy all our beautiful state has to offer and look forward to welcoming visitors back again and again."
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| Sign painted on window of a business in Ozark, Arkansas (c) Lisa R. Pruitt 2024 |
Meanwhile, other media outlets reported on visitors to other rural regions in the zone of totality. Here is some reporting by North State Public Radio in New York on the economic impact of the eclipse there:
Monday, April 8 was the best sales day ever for the [Hotel Saranac's] restaurant. They also sold street food that day during Saranac Lake’s Solar Fest event.
“We had three food vendors and all we did was tacos- total tacos- and I think we sold almost 200 tacos that day and people came in and got to enjoy Saranac Lake," said [the hotel's director of marketing and sales]
Other hotels, motels, and short-term rentals around the Adirondacks were also booked full, some a year in advance. Using that and other economic data, the Regional Office of Sustainable Tourism estimates that Essex County alone saw a $2.2 million boost in business compared to the same time last year.
One local restaurant in Saranac Lake that was busy all weekend was the Blue Moon Cafe. Owner Kenny Fontana said it was overwhelming at times. “We had three days where everybody really worked 12-13 hours."
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But the haymakers may have largely been hotels and restaurants. A few people who own a convenience shop in the area didn’t want to talk on the record, but said most people who came into their shop just wanted to use the restroom during the eclipse. They believed the region and state overhyped the event.
And here's a late March Washington Post story on anticipated spending from eclipse tourism.
Here's a mile-by-mile map of the solar eclipse, from the Washington Post.
Here's a report on employment and wages in the path of the eclipse.
Here's a story on AirBnB bookings in the path of totality.
Postscript: The April 24, 2024 issue of the Newton County Times reported on an April 15, 2024 meeting of Local Emergency Planning Committee. The headline is telling: "Preparations wouldn't have changed for the eclipse." In other words, local officials say they wouldn't do anything differently--either to attract more tourists or try to deter them from coming--if they had it to do over. Oddly, the newspaper's website includes no link to the story.
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