Sun rises on biggest day for ‘Eclipseville’
UFO fans, religious groups and tourists descend on small town in Kentucky in their thousands
Thousands of tourists have descended on the small town of Hopkinsville, Kentucky, ready for a solar eclipse that will travel across the United States today. Nasa says the town, dubbed “Eclipseville”, will be the point of greatest eclipse, so residents have been preparing for the event for a decade. There is just one problem: the weather forecast…
AS SHE served hundreds of “lunar lattes” in a coffee shop in the unusually chaotic rural Kentucky town of Hopkinsville, Amanda Huff-mcclure kept a wary eye out the window. On the horizon several clouds loomed.
A decade ago Hopkinsville, an otherwise little-known former tobacco town, won the cosmic lottery. Nasa declared it would be the “point of greatest eclipse” as a 70-mile swathe of the United States, from Oregon to South Carolina, goes dark today.
It is the first total eclipse in the US since 1979 and Hopkinsville, or “Eclipseville USA”, as it is now widely known, will experience an unrivalled 2 min 41.2sec of totality.
The town has busily spent the past 10 years preparing to cash in like crazy, with up to 200,000 visitors expected to descend on it down a two-lane road.
Vast quantities of “Total Eclipse Moonshine” with the slogan “Lights Out!” have been brewed.
Homes are reputedly being rented out for $10,000, parking spots for $250.
The economic boost for a town that needs it has been estimated at $30million (£23.3million).
However, only one thing could not be predicted 10 years ago, and that was the weather.
With less than 24 hours to go until the moon passes in front of the sun, meteorologists were uttering a phrase dreaded by everyone – “partly cloudy”.
“That’s what everyone’s worried about. The weather is extremely important,” said Miss Huff-mcclure, 35, as she served eclipse-watchers from Japan and Italy at her recently opened coffee house, the site of a former brothel.
“This is our moment in the sun, so to speak. It’s been 10 years, and it’s been an amazing rallying point.”
Roy Bradley, 55, who had driven from Ohio, and found a hotel room 100 miles away, sought to reassure. “Partly cloudy means more sun than cloud,” he told other customers hopefully. Not everyone looked convinced.
By yesterday afternoon 25,000 people had already arrived in Hopkinsville, which has a usual population of 32,000.
Outside town local Amish people in horse-drawn buggies tried to calm their horses as giant recreational vehicles trundled in from all over the US. Among those looking skyward was Ed Tarwinksi, 60, a Scot from Edinburgh. He said: “I planned this trip seven years ago. It was on my bucket list. Eclipses are usually at the North Pole or somewhere so this seemed a good one. I’ve heard it’s the most wonderful natural phenomenon.”
In the verdant fields of the surrounding Christian County local churches were holding a three-day religious festival called “Solquest”. Brother Guy Consolmagno, the director of the Vatican Observatory, was arriving from Rome to speak at a church.
Down the road, eclipse-watchers who were hoping it would herald the arrival of aliens were also gathering.
Exactly 62 years ago, on August 21, 1955, Hopkinsville was the site of one of America’s best known alien sightings,
when a dozen people claimed to have seen “little green men” at a farmhouse and shot at them with guns.
Standing next to a large silver flying saucer Joann Smithey, chairman of the Little Green Men Festival, told The Daily Telegraph: “Something happened that day in 1955 and we believe this is a cosmic coincidence.
“In all of the world we’re the point of greatest eclipse and it’s happening on the same day. That’s a big coincidence. Whether the little green men show up again I don’t know, but they might.”
Hopkinsville’s long preparations included investing $500,000 on portable lavatories and showers, and hiring an eclipse co-ordinator, Brooke Jung, who has become known in town as the “Princess of Darkness”. Her main concern is a potential traffic jam. “Our biggest focus is just to make sure traffic keeps moving,” she said. “There is no handbook in preparing for an eclipse.”
In the high street, Dave Kreil, 56, and his wife Karen, 53, were selling hundreds of eclipse T-shirts. “We saw it as an opportunity and we’re expecting a flood,” said Mr Kreil, who passed up the opportunity to rent out his house. “We’re going to watch it as a family by the pool with a beer,” he said.
Not all Hopkinsville’s residents were over the moon though. “I don’t like crowds,” said Kerri Thomas. “It’s exciting, though,” she admitted. “The most exciting thing that happens around here is if somebody gets shot.”