Big event coming to Watertown April 8 weekend.
Gonna be lots of people drinking lots of beer and eating lots of food
Read below: GO KEGS
Watertown plans for April solar eclipse: 174,000 visitors
could be in the city
Mon, February 12, 2024 at 11:59 PM EST · 4 min read
Craig Fox, Watertown Daily Times, N.Y.
Feb. 12—WATERTOWN — With less than two months until the big day, the total
solar eclipse could attract as many as 174,000 people to Watertown on the day
in April that the city becomes one of the best views for the event.
Local officials have been told by the state Office of Emergency Management to
expect between 43,500 and 174,000 visitors to converge on Watertown over a
span of three days for the eclipse on Monday, April 8.
City Manager Eric F. Wagenaar said Monday that local officials were a bit
surprised to learn that so many people could be coming to view the
astronomical phenomenon.
"We're in really good shape, but we still have plenty to do," Wagenaar said.
But it's far more visitors than had been anticipated when the city started
preparing for the event months ago, so businesses, event organizers and law
enforcement agencies are planning accordingly for a mass of people.
"It's going to be insane," said Dr. Debra Koloms, a local eye surgeon who will be
viewing her third total solar eclipse in her life.
The path of the total eclipse — considered North America's most anticipated
celestial event for years to come — runs right through the north country.
For months, organizers in Watertown have been planning events for the eclipse.
The city will hold its Total Eclipse of the Park in Thompson Park on the day of
the eclipse. The Watertown Downtown Business Association will be holding a
celebration on the Saturday before around Public Square.
On Monday afternoon, about 30 organizers met in the council chambers at City
Hall to discuss the status of their plans and review changes because of the
mass of people expected for the event.
Watertown Police Chief Charles P. Donoghue expects city streets will be
"gridlocked" with traffic before and after the eclipse. The total eclipse itself —
when the moon aligns between the Earth and the sun, blocking the solar light
from reaching Earth — will be viewable at about 3:22 p.m. in Watertown and last
about 3 minutes and 40 seconds.
When she attended the last eclipse in North America in southern Illinois in 2017,
Koloms found herself stuck when leaving the area. It took her and her party
about 12 hours to get back to Chicago, a trip that normally takes about five
hours, she said.
She has no idea how long it will take visitors to get out of Watertown, on
Interstate 81 and other routes out of the north country once it's over.
City Planner Geoffrey T. Urda told the group that plans for people to board
buses at the Target Plaza on outer Arsenal Street were scrapped, citing that
buses would get stuck in traffic possibly for hours.
Instead, the city has arranged to use 12 buses from Hale Transportation in
Watertown for continuous loops inside Thompson Park to shuttle people for the
best viewing spots in the city.
"We'll get inside the park and we'll get you out," he said, adding that it'll be the
responsibility of riders to get to the shuttle buses from locales around
Watertown.
Visitors will not be allowed to drive into the park. One route will be left open for
emergency vehicles into the park. Every inch of parking inside the park will be
for volunteers and vendors working on the eclipse event that day.
People looking for that perfect spot inside Thompson Park to view the total
eclipse should expect to arrive by about 9 a.m., organizers said.
Several mobile traffic message boards will be placed in and around the city to
get the word out about traffic flow. Local radio stations will be asked to notify
motorists about traffic snarls.
Organizers will be giving out thousands and thousands of special glasses that
must be worn to protect viewers' eyes.
Koloms, an ophthalmologist and medical director of the Center for Sight on
State Street, said eye injuries can be caused by viewing the eclipse without the
glasses.
The Center for Sight will be giving out 5,000 glasses, she said.
Organizers are putting together plans for vendors and musicians at the park for
that day, safety, marketing and social media to advertise Watertown's efforts and
community outreach to businesses.
But they can't do anything if the weather doesn't cooperate. If it's raining or
snowing, people may change their plans of coming to the north country and go
some place that the event isn't dampened by the weather.
"If it's raining, no one is going to come," Koloms said.
Sackets Harbor, Henderson, Cape Vincent, Clayton and Tupper Lake are also
organizing eclipse viewing events in their communities. Fort Drum is planning its
own event.
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