The Boone County Convention and Visitors Bureau announced that it will host a meeting for preparations for the upcoming solar eclipse on April 8, 2024, where areas of
Boone County will experience totality.
“This meeting is for event planners in municipalities, non-profit groups, libraries, public safety officials, food providers, hotels and other businesses associated with hosting eclipse guests,” the Visitors Bureau wrote. “We want to be ready to welcome eclipse viewers from all over the globe to Boone County.”
The Boone County Convention and Visitors Bureau announced earlier this month that the organization has received a bundle of eclipse glasses that will be distributed throughout the county to hotels and event sites.
Earlier this month, two Boone County organizations also received grants to support their efforts for the upcoming eclipse. The Jamestown Community Partnership and Brick Street Poetry were awarded a $2,000 micro-grant with funding support from the Simons Foundation as part of its “In the Path of Totality initiative” and the Indiana University Center for Rural Engagement.
According to the Indiana University Center for Rural Engagement, Brick Street Poetry is expected to utilize the funding to “develop four to six programs in rural Indiana towns using poetry to educate and celebrate the 2024 solar eclipse in communities along its diagonal path,” and Jamestown Community Partnership “will provide a variety of activities for all ages throughout the entire eclipse, including glow-in-the-dark kickball and a moon cookie decoration station at an event titled ‘Get Mooned in Boone.'”
Kerry Thomson, Center for Rural Engagement Executive Director, commented that over 80 organizations from communities with a population under 50,000 applied for the micro-grants, and the center hopes the grants will allow for the towns to further the experiences available for the more than one million visitors the area is expecting to welcome leading up to April 8.
“Rural communities are implementing creative plans to connect residents and visitors as we all gather to witness this historic event,” Thomson wrote. “We look forward to collaborating with communities to bring these plans to fruition and strengthen local strategies that expand arts capacity.”
The eclipse is expected to cover a large section of Indiana in complete darkness for nearly four minutes as the moon shadows the sun. Experts claim that the next opportunity to view the phenomena in Indiana will be 2099. The Simons Foundation, who supported the grants financially, focused its efforts on supporting areas of the country that have fewer traditional science engagement opportunities, such as small communities with a population under 50,000. The Simons Foundation expects that the small communities in totality may experience more than triple their population to visit during the event.
“Few things evoke awe or a sense of connectedness like a total solar eclipse does,” Ivvet Modinou, the Simons Foundation Vice President of Science, Society and Culture, said. “The Simons Foundation is thrilled to support organizations working to ensure that everyone has an unforgettable experience this April. Our hope is that this will lead to more opportunities for engagement with science long after the eclipse has passed through.”
The meeting to continue preparations for the eclipse will be held on Nov. 8 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Lebanon Public Library.
Stay tuned to Boone County Daily News and Clinton County Daily News for more information as the solar eclipse draws closer.