Crowds viewing the solar eclipse are expected to be sizable this weekend through Monday, and viewers and visitors will have plenty to do leading up to the celestial event on April 8 at 3:08 p.m.
As of the afternoon of April 4, Monday’s weather conditions are expected to be overcast for the whole day.
Local agencies have planned programming throughout the entire weekend.
“It’s been a labor of love for a little over a year,” said Sally Roi, Enjoy Oxford’s operations manager. “We’re excited for all of the visitors to come to Oxford. It’s a great opportunity to bring people here and see what we’ve got going on here.”
Roi said she and other planners will have their hands full feeding and organizing the network of volunteers, fire and police department members that will serve the crowd expected in Oxford for Total Eclipse of the Parks, a weekend-long series of events.
A festival will take over High Street on Saturday from 1 to 9 p.m., offering food and entertainment along with informative and vending booths along the sidewalks.
Runners can mark the occasion by participating in a “Space Race” of either 5,000 or 10,000 meters starting at 9 a.m. from Leonard Howell Park on Sunday, April 7. The race will be preceded by a movie marathon of space-set films at several locations throughout Oxford.
As well, viewing of the celestial event will take place at Oxford Community Park and Uptown Parks, with the latter featuring live music by local band Thumbtack Mechanics.
Miami University
Miami University’s Richard and Carole Cocks Art Museum has a viewing party planned from 1 to 5 p.m. with snacks and glasses provided. Attendees can tour their sculpture park beginning at 2 p.m., in time to experience totality at 3:08 p.m.
King Library plans to have a telescope available for a magnified experience.
A campus viewing party will also be happening on Miami’s Cook Field.
Jerry Riesenberg of the Institute for Learning in Retirement and Stephen Alexander of Miami’s physics department are scheduled to lecture on the phenomenon and give tips for viewing it on Thursday at 4 p.m.
The museum plans to show the movie “2001: A Space Odyssey” for free the following day.
Hueston Woods
Tanya Drake, assistant manager at Hueston Woods Lodge, said the lodge is fully booked for the nights of April 7 and 8, with only three rooms left on April 6. Drake said full occupancy is normal for the lodge on weekends, but this weekend the crowd will extend beyond the lodge.
“I think park visitors will be escalated,” Drake said. “There’ll be a lot of people coming in. We’ve had tons and tons of phone calls about that.”
The lodge plans to restrict its parking lot and dining areas to guests in response to the expected park crowd.
The Elms Hotel still has some availability for the weekend. A desk worker said that most of their eclipse-viewing guests will arrive on Monday.
