Eclipse Happenings: Big Interest in Falls City Event Shocks Organizers

FALLS CITY, Neb. - The Falls City Chamber and Main Street did not expect the response they got for their "Dine in the Dark" event that will take place during the solar eclipse on Monday. Chamber President Amber Holle expected a couple hundred people, but then word of the event "caught on like wildfire." "We probably had 100 to 200. We were trying to promote ourselves and boost ourselves on social media and Google searches, and then all of the sudden it just took off. We sold a couple hundred tickets in a week and we had to consider capping the event, because we only had so many solar glasses and our restaurants can only serve so many people." They had to cap ticket purchases at 700 people. Two blocks of downtown will be closed during the Dine in the Dark event. Two Restaurants, A&G and Cakes and 'Que, will serve dinners outside during the eclipse. Ticket holders will be able to sit at picnic tables, enjoy lunch and watch the solar eclipse with their eclipse approved sunglasses. People who have reserved their tickets to Dine in the Dark can pick them up at 8:30 Monday morning. Lunch will be served at 11:30. Falls City is in the path for 100% totality and the sun will be eclipsed by the moon for 2:37. It's the first time since 1918 a solar eclipse will be visible on a path across the entire continental United States. People from Omaha, New Jersey, California, Texas and even Canada are expected to be in Falls City, according to Holle. "I have a guy from Florida that's driving with a telescope in the back of his truck. Thousands of miles with a big sticker on his truck that says, 'Falls City or bust." So, they're coming from everywhere." Several other towns in Nebraska are hosting eclipse events. Merchants in Auburn will offer online coupons, named Eclipse E-clips, that can be printed out for discounts and specials. Nemaha County Hospital will host a lunch on its lawn during the eclipse. A limited number of sack lunches will be available for purchase. In Broken Bow, a street dance, a cowboy poet, outdoor movies, barrel racing, bison ranch tours and free bacon-wrapped pork kabobs set the stage for watching a coop of chickens roost as the sky darkens. Broken Bow touts its nearly 150 seconds in totality — one second for each year of Nebraska statehood — in its event logo. The party begins four days before the eclipse in Ravenna. The event starts with Cedar Hills Vineyard’s release of Dark of Day wine and ends at the town baseball fields (the local viewing site) after totality with an attempt to break the world record for the most people doing the moonwalk. In between are star parties, a music festival and eclipse-themed parade, art shows and craft fairs. Astronaut Mike Fincke and his NASA engineer wife, Renita Fincke, will be in the parade. A post-totality pig roast will be available till the food runs out. “Nebraska’s Biggest Little Rodeo” and the Logan County Fair set the theme for eclipse weekend in Stapleton, which is bracing for upward of 6,000 visitors. Tryon is hosting narrated prairie tours by horseback and wagon, a living history tepee village, demonstrations of cattle cutting by horse-and-rider and herd dogs and Coffee with a Rancher will showcase the village’s agricultural heritage before the celestial show. Holle says hotels in Falls City have been sold out for months and area businesses are expected to be open on Sunday. "Now the city of Falls City is allowing parking and tent camping at any of the city parks. The businesses really got on board and have come up with creative Falls City souvenirs. 'The Candle Shop' put a fun label on their candles. We have mouse pads, key chains and koozies. We have eclipse artwork at our local art gallery. Everyone is totally on board and it's so exciting." The eclipse is expected to be in totality at 1:04 central time in the southeastern Nebraska town of 4,200. For more solar eclipse events across the state, log onto the Nebraska Eclipse 2017 Facebook page. News Channel Nebraska will broadcast live coverage of the solar eclipse on Monday with reporters across the state from the panhandle to the southeast corner. Coverage begins at 9 a.m. and will continue until 3 p.m. Viewers can watch live at ncnsportsnow.com or through your local cable or satellite provider. Follow Hunter on Twitter: @TheBurnRadio World-Herald News Service contributed to this report.
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