LivCo Sol

Tips for Businesses

We want you to be prepared! Livingston County Tourism has established a number of resources and funding opportunities to help prepare for the 2024 Total Solar Eclipse that will take place on April 8th, 2024. Extensive research has gone into preparing for this event including gathering information from places affected by the 2017 eclipse.

One of the most challenging planning aspects is determining how many people may visit Livingston County for this event. The Finger Lakes Region is considered one of the premier locations to view the eclipse due to our proximity to major cities combined with our already robust tourism industry.

With the potential for a large influx of crowds, we encourage all businesses and organizations to become familiar with the upcoming eclipse dates and begin preparing accordingly. Please review the following to see how your business or organization can prepare for the upcoming eclipses.

HOW TO PREPARE YOUR BUSINESS/ORGANIZATION:

• Back-up Plans: Prepare for a potential increase in customers; have needed supplies on hand and early; consider extending hours of operation to meet customer needs and have back-up plans if staff is delayed due to traffic.
• Employee Preparedness: Encourage employees to have a full tank of gas; have their own resources ready at home; have daycare needs met, etc., by Thursday, April 4, 2024. Gas stations may be very busy or may be waiting on resupply. Make sure your staff can get to work, so give them reminders to plan ahead.
• Cash & Financial Transactions: Be prepared for more cash transactions; consider having extra tills set up to accommodate more cash transactions. You may have larger than normal deposits over the weekend. Check ahead of time if your bank will be open on Monday, April 8, 2024.
  • HOW DOES YOUR CREDIT/ DEBIT CARD MACHINE ACCESS THE INTERNET? If you use cell service/cell wireless service for your transactions, be prepared with a backup plan. We anticipate a high demand for cellular service during the impact period, especially Monday, April 8, 2024. You may find you are not able to make transactions; have a backup plan to meet your customers' needs.
• Communications: Anticipate possible cellular service disruptions due to the increased demand. Visitors may have urgent requests to use your landline business phone if cell service is limited; decide how you want to handle these requests and make sure employees know what to do. If it is a 911 emergency and you have a landline, be ready to help!
• Regularly Scheduled Deliveries & Product: Evaluate when you receive your regular deliveries; deliveries scheduled for Monday, April 8, 2024, may be significantly delayed due to the overwhelming number of vehicles trying to come into and leave Livingston County. Consider rescheduling for Tuesday or ordering extra the week prior. Will you have enough product on hand should an influx of customers utilize your services?
• Restrooms: Be aware many visitors will be camping in authorized and potentially unauthorized locations; expect customers who may be primarily interested in using business restrooms. Public restrooms will be in short supply and portable restrooms in limited locations may be at capacity until serviced.
• Weather and Your Business: If conditions are foggy or cloudy, visitors with hotel reservations will most likely not change their plans, but the "day trippers" may move to a location with better viewing conditions; there is no way to predict this, but monitoring the weather forecast the week to 10 days prior to April 8, 2024 will be useful for your business.
• Eye Safety: Determine if you will provide solar filters or glasses for employees and/or customers. If yes, order them as soon as possible to make sure you receive them in time. Livingston County Tourism is selling eclipse glasses ($2 each) at visitlivco.shop.
• Experiencing the Eclipse: Make sure you have a plan that allows employees to view the eclipse. This is once-in-a-lifetime experience that everyone will want to experience, including at their place of business.
• Community Dashboard: Register for the Livingston County Eclipse Community Dashboard, established in coordination with local, state, regional, and national eclipse planners. Join one or more of the committees in the dashboard to address your specific needs.
• If you have general information to share on this website regarding your business's modified hours or closure during the eclipse, please email: info@visitlivco.com.