Long lines outside hotels. Packed restaurants. Parking lots full of cars from all over the country.
Erie officials had been preparing for months for the crowds to descend upon the relatively small lakeside city of less than 100,000 to observe the once-in-a-lifetime event total solar eclipse on Monday afternoon.
“The most people we’ve ever had at an event in Erie,” Mayor Joe Schember said Saturday.
On Monday at 3:16 p.m., moon covered the sun completely for 3 minutes, 41 seconds, marking the first total solar eclipse in Erie in more than 50 years, with another one not expected until 2144.
From Pittsburgh to Erie, people traveled to watch the eclipse with loved ones or to make a vacation out of it.
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4:53 p.m.
Pairing the eclipse with two Pittsburgh sports teams
One Raleigh, North Carolina, family took an 8 1/2 hour drive overnight Friday in search of a better view of the celestial event.
Shel and Tiffany Brennan experienced total darkness during the last eclipse in 2017, when they traveled to Charleston, S.C. This time, they had two young sons, Will and Connor, who they wanted to share the memory with.
“They’re really excited,” he said. “Once we explained to them what was going on.”
The boys were quick to ask questions such as, how far away is the sun or moon? Mr. Brenna’s older son, 5-year-old Will, had learned about the eclipse in school.
Mr. Brennan said his parents received a message from the school to let them know that the children wouldn’t be going outside for the event, as their home state was not on the path of totality.
But that wasn’t good enough for the parents, who let their boys skip for a day for the rare excitement.
The family thought about driving as far as west Ohio, but it was sports that made them choose Pittsburgh. The Brennans, still dressed up in their jerseys, saw the Penguins battle the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday and the Pirates play the Baltimore Orioles on Sunday.
“It’s one of those things that brings everybody together,” he said. “Sports is a unifying factor but celestial objects like this, yeah, it’s kind of everything we are.”
— Jordan Anderson
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4:31 p.m.
‘It was almost a spiritual experience’
After the moon moved past maximum coverage, the packed crowd outside Carnegie Science Center began to dissipate.
Some moved inside to catch the rest of the NASA livestream, while others began walking the river path below the science center patio.
“I expected it to be darker, it was almost a spiritual experience to stand here and feel the light exposure change during the day, but I thought it was going to be a little darker,” said Chaton Turner, a North Side resident who walked to the science center with her three children, ages 6, 10 and 13.
Ms. Turner said she tried to capture the eclipse by taking iPhone pictures, but they turned out just as bright as if it was the sky on a normal day.
The solution, she found, was taking pictures through the lens of her protective eclipse glasses.
“When you looked up at it it was really cool,” Ms. Turner said. “You gotta be present in the moment, that was the lesson for me.”
— Sydney Carruth
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4:23 p.m.
Totality, and darkness, descend on Erie as fireworks erupt
In Frontier Park, crowds cheered and clapped through the total eclipse, which was punctuated by fireworks.
As the eclipse ended and the sky lit back up, a young David Bowie impersonator set up in a parking lot nearby Frontier Park began belting a spirited rendition of “Space Oddity.” Despite warnings from state and local officials, the roads remained relatively clear in the wake of the eclipse as crowds were slow to leave various viewing locations across the city.
Afterwards, families across the city lingered in their front yards craning their necks towards the sky
— Jacob Geanous
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3:56 p.m.
Outdoor schooling for the occasion
“It’s time right now, get your masks on,” Joe Fennell, told his three boys just before 3:15 p.m. along the riverwalk near Acrisure Stadium on the North Shore. The skies were already darkening, as if the time were closer to dusk, instead of just after 3 p.m.
The Pittsburgh astrophotographer “un-schools” his children, so learning outside like this is routine.
“It's right now, dudes,” he said, encouraging the boys to look toward the sky. “Got four minutes.”
As the big moment came, he asked the kids to pose for some family shots, as light beamed from a hazy sky.
The boys shared a welding mask to take in the sight, which covers the entire face. The family went on the hunt for eclipse glasses just before the event without luck.
“Everyone was sold out, but the welding mask is adequate,” he said.
— Jordan Anderson
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3:46 p.m.
‘Five more minutes!’
With just five minutes left until peak eclipse in Pittsburgh, a family of four stood on a grassy hill below the Carnegie Science Center booths with their attention on the sky as a crowd of kids chanted “five more minutes!”
Amico Findley, a 9-year-old dressed in a Spider-Man suit, said he had been researching the eclipse for weeks in preparation. He can explain every different type of eclipse, said his mom, Asia Findley.
“He wants to be an astronaut when he grows up,” Ms. Findley said. “So this is right up his explorative alley.”
Ms. Findley brought all three of her kids, ages 3, 9 and 16 to the science center on Monday afternoon.
“It’s important to me that everyone gets to experience it, I want to keep that learning and wanting to know about the world alive,” Ms. Findley said.
Steps away, Kathy Rygle and Steve Peterson, of Indiana Township, prepared to watch the eclipse in totality with their 7-year-old grandson.
“He soaks it all in, he understands it and tonight he’ll be repeating everything,” Ms. Rygle said.
The sky grew darker and the outside crowd grew larger as the eclipse approached maximum coverage
— Sydney Carruth
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3:34 p.m.
The eclipse hits the North Shore
Ronald Stewart, 54 and Laura Stewart, 54, made the four-hour drive from Baltimore to Pittsburgh to see the eclipse along with a small crowd gathered on the riverwalk near Acrisure Stadium on Monday.
The couple saw another eclipse from home in 2017, but Mr. Stewart said he “wanted more” this time around. The forecast for their area was about 87%, compared to Pittsburgh’s totality of 97%.
“This only happens a couple times in your life, you go out and experience it,” Mr. Stewart said.
He even kept the same NASA-branded glasses they wore in 2017 to bring for the trip.
“I'm really looking forward to that where it's almost dark, that totality,” he said. “I think we're going to really feel a blackout.”
Though it’s not all about the eclipse fanfare for the couple, as the trip mainly to see the Orioles play at PNC Park on Sunday. While sports can divide the two cities, the Baltimore natives are glad they chose Pittsburgh to experience the unique phenomenon.
“I want to do something memorable,” he said. “We're at a park in the middle of Pittsburgh next to the old Three Rivers Stadium. It’s something different, something new to remember versus just sitting in our hometown.”
— Jordan Anderson
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3:20 p.m.
Totality hits in Erie
Minutes before the eclipse began, Gov. Josh Shapiro greeted crowds gathering in Downtown Erie. He brought with him his wife, Lori, and four kids.
“It’s thrilling,” said Gov. Shapiro of the eclipse. “And the best place to see it is right here in Erie.”
The clouds seemed to part as the governor made his way to the stage. For the entire morning, it had been overcast, and at times rainy. But the sun emerged just in time for the main event.
The governor slowly made his way around the park shaking hands, as locals began to break out their folding chairs and settle in for an hour-plus of sun gazing. Kids were rough-housing and pinballing around the park as the governor began to speak
“I’m just super excited to be here with all of you today,” he said.
Totality moved across Erie about 3:19 p.m.
— Neena Hagen
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2:52 p.m.
The eclipse opens up solar learning opportunities
At one booth, part-time science center volunteer Dan Lavoie drew a crowd as he demonstrated how the planets in the solar system orbit the sun.
Onlookers watched as Mr. Lavoie explained that the black sheet in front of him represented space and time, while the large gray ball in its center represented the sun.
“We’re showing people how gravity works and the effects of gravity on the objects around us,” Mr. Lavoie said.
The volunteer began rolling colorful marbles, each representing a different planet in the solar system, onto the sheet. Each began to circle, or orbit, the gray ball.
“It’s a simple hands on way to show how gravity works and how objects orbit in our solar system.”
— Sydney Carruth
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2:37 p.m.
‘We’re all waiting for this thing to happen’
As Erie awaited the long-anticipated total eclipse of the sun, a group of local poets took to the stage in Frontier Park for a series of spoken word performances as hundreds gathered to view the skies.
The event, hosted in part by local poet Charles Joy and Thasia Anne, of Community Access Media, said they were excited about the large turnout for the pre-eclipse event, which Mr. Joy said he expected to include many from Pittsburgh.
“We were expecting 500,000 of you [from Pittsburgh] coming up here to join the path of totality,” Mr. Joy joked.
Ms. Anne said the impending celestial event was the ideal backdrop for their event, in which she read her own locally themed poem about collecting beach glass along Lake Erie.
“It’s part of nature, really exciting, awesome and scary part of nature,” Ms. Anne said. “I just find it so energetic and awesome, and that its in Erie, Pennsylvania.”
A small group of young poets also lined up behind the stage for a chance to do readings of their own, including Jesse Eagle, 19, who traveled from Yorktown, Va. to be in town for the eclipse.
“Art tends to be a privilege, but I think it's really important and poetry in a way is like an incantation and what better circumstances than under a celestial event,” Mr. Eagle “In a very real sense, Its very anticipatory for all of us. We’re all waiting for this thing to happen that’s so beyond us.”
— Jacob Geanous
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2:14 p.m.
At the Carnegie Science Center, exciting and educational opportunities abound
The riverfront patio of the Carnegie Science Center was packed with hundreds of hopeful eclipse watchers already donning protective eyewear as they engaged in educational activities to pass the time left before Pittsburgh saw 97% totality on Monday afternoon.
Booths offering pin-hole viewings of past eclipses, supplies to create astronomical art and DIY eyewear decorations lined the sides of the crowded walkway. Children who were given the day off from school huddled around each booth to hear science center employees explain all things solar system.
“We wanted to make sure that people who came out got something beyond what they would see if they were just home,” said Jason Brown, the Henry Buhl Jr. director of the Carnegie Science Center. “We have all kinds of activities and educators set up along here educating people about all things astronomical.”
Inside the science center, theater rooms were packed with viewers watching a livestream of the official NASA eclipse feed.
Mr. Brown estimated more than 3,500 people had come through the center to participate in eclipse-related activities Monday morning.
Though the sun had begun to peak through the dense gray cloud cover around 2 p.m. on Monday afternoon, Mr. Brown noted the livestream inside would create a failsafe for viewers in case the eclipse wasn’t visible through the clouds.
The sun was poking in and out of the clouds, but it breathed a new sense of excitement into the crowd nonetheless. Kids carrying colorful cereal boxes that had been converted into pin-hole eclipse binoculars turned their inventions, and attentions, toward the sky.
“Very soon you’ll start to see the shadow of the moon cover their sun,” Mr. Brown said. “Over the next hour and a half, that will cover more and more of the sun and at 3:17, we will see maximum coverage.”
— Sydney Carruth
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1:34 p.m.
Eclipse begins in North America
MAZATLAN, Mexico — Cheers broke out along the beach in this resort city as the moon began to pass over the sun.
Hundreds in a beachside park had passed the waiting time by readying their equipment and listening to a youth orchestra play Star Wars songs while a large screen projected images of Princess Leia behind them.
Luz Elena Aguillón de la O sat in the grass with a group of 14 family and friends who had gathered from Mexico City, Guanajuato and right here in Mazatlan to take in the spectacle.
“Happy to be here with family, friends sharing a singular, unrepeatable event that the universe and nature give us,” she said.
— The Associated Press
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12:55 p.m.
Sisters meet up in Erie for the festivities
Cloudy skies didn’t dampen the mood for the Cole sisters, who already traveled hundreds of miles between them to be together for the total eclipse.
Lynn Ann Cole, 60, traveled from Pensacola, Florida, on Sunday to attend Monday’s festivities in Erie with her sister Lori Cole, 62, who drove up from Cranberry Township.
The Cole sisters, originally from Ellwood City, said they were optimistic that the eclipse would be visible despite overcast skies.
“It’s a once in a lifetime thing. We’ve never done anything like this,” Lynn Cole said.
“This is a big thing for us to share as sisters,” Lori Cole said.
The Cole sisters were among hundreds of people who headed to Liberty Park on Erie’s bayfront to view the eclipse.
As hopeful sun-gazers set up tents and chairs on the lawn overlooking the bay and Highmark Amphitheater, DJ Bill Page assured those in attendance that the skies still had hours to clear up before the approximately four-minute total eclipse at 3:16 p.m.
As dozens more people filed into the park, many headed directly for Lombardo’s Concessions food stand, which has stands around the city and began serving up Italian sausage and loaded plates of french fries in Liberty Park shortly at 10 Monday.
Amanda Majczyk, the 46-year-old general manager of the concessions business, said she expects the day will be bright, even if the sky is not.
“It’s Erie, you never know what’s going to happen so we’re just going to hope for that break in the clouds,” Ms. Majczyk said. “People are optimistic, happy, excited. If we see [the eclipse], we see it. If not, at least we had a good day.”
— Jacob Geanous
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12:12 p.m.
The latest forecast
The forecast for Pittsburgh was starting to look a little better as the afternoon began.
According to the National Weather Service office in Moon, locations along and west of Interstate 79 in southwestern Pennsylvania could have a decent chance of seeing the 97% totality that’s expected here. Low clouds will be limited in those areas, making visibility better.
But to the east of Pittsburgh, more abundant low clouds were still likely to obscure viewing.
In Erie, lower clouds were expected to linger and could obscure the total eclipse from viewing.
The NWS’s storm prediction center showed that few locations would have a clear view, despite a large swatch of the country being in the path of the eclipse. Northern New England and portions of central Arkansas figured to have a clear look.
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11:57 a.m.
‘A little disappointing’: Erie’s mayor hopes crowds will turn out
As the rain began to let up and the sun peeked through the clouds, Erie’s Mayor said the lack of crowds was “a little disappointing.”
A few cars have begun to trickle in and fill the parking spots around Perry Square — a park in the center of town — but the streets and sidewalks remain largely clear.
“I think people just haven’t really come out yet,” Mayor Joe Schember said Monday morning. “Hopefully we can at least get a little bit of blue sky.”
The mayor plans to make an appearance in Perry Square at 1 p.m., along with Gov. Josh Shapiro, who plans to be there for eclipse activities with his wife, Lori, and will be making remarks
As of late morning, the most visible presence is the police. About 140 officers are working today, the mayor said. So far, there are no public safety issues to report.
— Neena Hagen
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11:37 a.m.
The governor will be in town
Gov. Josh Shapiro said he and his family were traveling to Erie to be in the path of totality.
His motorcade was expected to arrive about 1 p.m.
— Jacob Geanous
I'm headed to Erie with Lori, the kids, and 200,000 others ready to experience the solar eclipse.
— Governor Josh Shapiro (@GovernorShapiro) April 8, 2024
It's a big day for Erie, our only major city in the path of totality, and there’s nowhere else I’d rather be.
Watch as I explain what we’re seeing and why it's so cool: pic.twitter.com/IjA45meY44
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11:16 a.m.
Firing up the grill while waiting on the crowds
In Erie’s Downtown Perry Square, where scores of visitors are expected to arrive ahead of the total eclipse, the smell of barbecued ribs wafted through the rainy morning air.
Rene Johnson, 60, and her family have been grilling and serving up ribs throughout the weekend and said they were undeterred by the clouds and scattered showers.
“There could have been a blizzard out and I would have been right here for the 200,000 people expected to come up and visit Erie,” Ms. Johnson said.
However the public square remained largely empty and customers — who Ms. Johnson and her family hoped would be taking approximately 100 pounds of beef and pork ribs off her hands — were scarce.
“They’re going to be coming in soon,” Patricia Brunson, 69, said. “It’s still early … the streets should be packed by now, but it's raining.”
Ms. Johnson said she saw about 100 customers Sunday who came from all over the region.
“We did much better yesterday,” she said. “We ran across a lot of people from Virginia, New Jersey, Pittsburgh. It’s just beautiful to be able to come out and do this while there’s a lot of people in town”
— Jacob Geanous
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10:40 a.m.
Pirates alter their gameday plans
Bryan Reynolds plans to look at the eclipse.
No, no. Not like that.
“I wanna see it,” Reynolds said. “But I’m not gonna stare.”
Like many other Pirates players — who will be an hour or two into their workday Monday afternoon when the solar eclipse reaches its Pittsburgh peak at 3:17 p.m. — Reynolds has a baseline level of curiosity about the whole thing.
Fortunately, the team does plan to have eclipse glasses available. The Pirates also adjusted their batting practice times to hit later in the day; they’re currently scheduled to start that at 3:35 p.m., which is about 45 minutes later than usual.
Pirates players also have the option of hitting inside, either off coaches and team staffers or machines, one that can replicate every pitcher in Major League Baseball.
“We’ll make sure we’re in a position where it doesn’t affect us,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said.
— Jason Mackey
Read more: Pirates adjusting their gameday plans — and glasses — for the solar eclipse
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10:05 a.m.
A cloudy, dreary start in Erie
Hundreds of thousands of people were supposed to descend on Erie on Monday for the much-hyped total solar eclipse.
But just hours before the main event, it looked like a typical Monday morning. There were few people Downtown and no sun to be seen.
A thick layer of clouds hung over the Bayfront — one of the prime viewing locations for the eclipse — covering the sun completely before the moon has a chance to.
The overcast skies show little sign improving, with full cloud cover expected until about 7 p.m.
Officials had previously estimated traffic to slow to a crawl, with up to 58,000 cars on the Bayfront Parkway. But Monday morning there were no backups to report, and hundreds of parking spaces available in the center of town.
The National Weather Service’s Cleveland office was predicting about 70% cloud cover during eclipse time.
— Neena Hagen
Rain and low-to-mid level clouds are moving through the region this morning. Rain will be gone by Noon with some lower clouds still lingering in far NE OH and NW PA. High cirrus clouds will move in by mid-afternoon. Temperatures across the region will be in the 60s to lower 70s. pic.twitter.com/IhakySZGSy
— NWS Cleveland (@NWSCLE) April 8, 2024
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10 a.m.
Erie is brimming with crowds, and excitement
Almost all of Erie’s hotels are sold out, and most of the rooms still up for grabs this weekend were going for more than $1,000. Fifty private jets were expected to land at Erie’s airport over the weekend. Officials estimate the event could bring anywhere from $13 million to $50 million into the local economy.
Schools are shutting down for the day and residents across the city have been told to stay home from work to avoid the gridlock of traffic for the celestial phenomenon — which will not be seen again in the contiguous United States until August 2044.
The path of totality — where observers will see the sun entirely eclipsed by the moon — enters the United States through Texas before cutting north through Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine, before entering Canada through Southern Ontario.
Erie, which has become a hotspot for sun-gazers due to the rarity of the event, will not be in the path of totality again until 2144.
In general, officials have warned residents and visitors to plan ahead for congested traffic. Officials in Erie County, N.Y., are issuing similar concerns.
“With the increased traffic from tourists coming to Erie County, it is very important to plan ahead and to allow for extra travel time,” Lisa Chimera, deputy county executive of Erie County, N.Y., said in a statement ”Many people on the roads could disrupt normal travel paths and cause traffic delays”
State transportation officials said nearly 435,000 live in the path of totality for the eclipse and multiple agencies — including the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency, the Pennsylvania State Police, Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission, and Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources — urged residents to plan ahead for the day, especially those living in the northwest region of the state.
Read more: 'Most people we've ever had:' Visitors pour into Erie ahead of solar eclipse
— Jacob Geanous
First Published: April 8, 2024, 2:00 p.m.
Updated: April 8, 2024, 8:58 p.m.