Total solar eclipse brings crowds, business to Springfield
More than 250 people gathered at National Commons park in Springfield to view the total solar eclipse Monday afternoon, cheering as the moon fully eclipsed the sun.
Viewers enjoyed live music from local band After Rain while patronizing local vendors and food trucks while awaiting the total eclipse. Springfield’s partial eclipse began at 1:54 p.m., with totality being reached around 3:10 p.m. and lasting about 2 minutes and 34 seconds.
Excitement for the eclipse brought people far and wide to downtown Springfield, where many patronized businesses, said Chris Schutte, Greater Springfield Partnership vice president of destination marketing and communications.
“We’ve been at Champion City Guide and Supply and so far, virtually everyone that’s come in has been from out of town or out of state,” Schutte said.
Schutte said GSP had not known what to expect but was pleased with turnout in downtown Springfield.
“I was honestly pretty surprised that before noon we already had people starting to descend here,” Schutte said.
Other events happened throughout Clark County, including at Veterans Park, Wittenberg University, New Carlisle and Buck Creek State Park.
Father and son duo Gary and Jake Goldberg drove about seven hours to downtown Springfield to view the
“once-in-a-lifetime” event, Gary Goldberg said.
Their closest Ohio relative lives in Grove City near Columbus, where they arrived Saturday so they wouldn’t be on the road “at the same time with everybody else,” he said.
Gary Goldberg, a computer scientist, said he grew up wanting to be an astronomer, but a fascination for the field was ever-present in the back of his mind, he said.
“This is my last chance in my life to experience something that’s outside of the world,” he said.
Gary Goldberg said he was excited that he got to experience the solar event with his son who “is at the age now where we don’t do very much together.”
His excitement extended to his son, who said those who weren’t as excited for the event and may not have watched it missed out.
“Watching fireworks in a
video is not the same thing as being there for it,” Jake Goldberg said.
Jackee and Anthony Crowell, of Charlotte, North Carolina, drove up with their daughter Felitia Crowell, of High Point, North Carolina, to watch the moon fully cover the sun. Jackee Crowell said Ohio was the closest eclipse state to Charlotte, and they drove to Columbus to stay.
Monday morning the family decided to drive to Springfield for the best view.
This is the family’s first total eclipse, Jackee Crowell said.
Anthony Crowell said he was excited about Springfield’s green grass, which looked different than typical when totality was reached. The grass back home is browner, he said.
“We were going to watch it from the parking deck up there, but then we realized it was so green down here,
we came down,” Anthony Crowell said.
Felitia Crowell said the family previously enjoyed a partial eclipse in Charlotte before and were excited to see the full phenomenon together.
Jenny and Leonard Hayhurst traveled from Heath, Ohio, and said they chose Springfield as their destination after researching areas that would see a total eclipse that were close to Yellow Springs to explore its shops and restaurants. They went to Young’s Dairy Farm over the weekend.
The Hayhursts, who had never seen a total eclipse, also explored downtown Springfield, patronizing businesses
such as Winan’s.
Leonard Hayhurst said through their exploring he discovered that Springfield’s downtown “is on the way up.”
“We can see the eclipse anywhere; it was finding something that fit us that was fun,” Leonard Hayhurst said.
Tiffany Hurd and her family drove up early Monday morning from Amelia, Ohio, to avoid traffic. The Hurds also chose Springfield because it was in the path of totality and near Yellow Springs where the family wants to go.
Hurd said she had seen partial eclipses before, and Amelia would almost see totality, but her husband wanted to
see 100% coverage.
Lifelong Springfielders Shawn and Kim Guthrie didn’t have to travel far to see the total solar eclipse. Shawn Guthrie said he had been looking forward to this for the last seven years, having only seen partial eclipses before.
Shawn Guthrie wanted to travel to Indiana where he thought it might be a clear day, but Kim Guthrie wanted to stay in Springfield, where the sky was streaked with thin, wispy crowds.
Brenda Holbrook, of Columbus, and several of her grandchildren, of Lancaster, drove to Springfield, which Holbrook said was convenient to see totality.