As seen on Livingston County News
Livingston County Tourism is already preparing for the 2024 Solar Eclipse.
The total eclipse is set to take place on April 8, 2024, and many towns and villages in Livingston County and surrounding areas are going to be in the “path of totality,” meaning they will be in the area where the moon will completely block the sun.
The April 8, 2024, solar eclipse will darken the skies from Texas to Maine. The duration of totality will be up to 4 minutes and 27 seconds, almost double that of The Great American Eclipse of August 21, 2017, which was witnessed from Oregon to South Carolina.
For the 2024 eclipse, Caledonia will have the longest time in totality in Livingston County at 3 minutes, 33 seconds.
Livingston County Tourism has coined the phrase “LivCo Sol” in preparation for the eclipse, creating merchandise and even purchasing glasses for people and businesses to give out before the event.
Recently, Livingston County Tourism shared its plans with local businesses, community leaders and other local stakeholders. The gathering at Avon Park Theater also included representatives from Sweetwater, Tenn., who spoke of their experience hosting visitors for a 2017 eclipse.
Sweetwater, a small town with a population of about 6,300 residents, welcomed more than 50,000 visitors for the 2017 eclipse.
Jessica Morgan and Hayley Isbill, both from Sweetwater, said that they were able to market to their surrounding communities and county as a great place to see the eclipse.
Morgan and Isbill discussed the importance of communication and preparation with local businesses and safety services to ensure that the community is prepared to deal with the influx of visitors to their area.
Kelly Burns, director of tourism in Livingston County, said that they anticipate anywhere from 350,000 to 500,000 people coming to the Finger Lakes region to witness the eclipse.
Things such as weather can affect viewing of the solar eclipse and Burns anticipates there will be a lot of movement occurring in the area.
“This isn’t just about tourism, it is also important for you to understand the potential strain that could be put on public resources during this event like police, traffic control and emergency services,” Livingston County Economic Development Director Bill Bacon told the Livingston County Board of Supervisors in a recent update. “We cannot be underprepared for this, so planning is critical. Believe it or not room availability is already becoming limited for this date. This requires that we stay ahead of it and continue to do that in our planning efforts,”