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Springfield News-Leader
One family traveled 2,000+ miles, others watched from backyards as the Ozarks went dark
By Greta Cross and Tony Madden, Springfield News-Leader,
2024-04-08
WEST PLAINS, Mo. — Leslie and Craig Herr, along with their 9- and 7-year old sons Atticus and Atlas, traveled nearly 2,000 miles to experience Monday's solar eclipse in Missouri.
Originally from Sacramento, the Herr family sat in the back of a rental minivan at noon, playing games and eating snacks, waiting for the moon's shadow to pass over the sun around 2 p.m. The family arrived in southwest Missouri last week, flying into Kansas City and then driving the rest of the way to West Plains.
"We chose our spring break specifically for this. West Plains was always our plan and it turned out that the clouds worked out best, too," Leslie Herr said. "I could make a weeklong vacation in Missouri. I couldn't make a weeklong vacation with the other states in the totality path."
Ahead of arriving in West Plains, the Herr family visited Silver Dollar City in Branson and they are looking forward to driving through the Wild Animal Safari in Strafford before heading back to California on Tuesday.
A festival three years in the making
Though the city's big celebrations at both the West Plains Civic Center and Heart of the Ozarks Fairgrounds began Monday morning, the city has been hosting festivities since Friday. The four-day festival kicked off with a concert on Friday evening featuring The Ozark Mountain Daredevils and 38 Special.
Melissa Wharton, West Plains tourism manager, said the city has been preparing for the four-day festival for three years. Wharton said the city decided to host a multi-day festival following recommendations from cities that were in the path of totality during the 2017 solar eclipse.
"It's kind of go big or go home," Wharton said with a laugh about the festival.
Speaking with the News-Leader Monday morning, Wharton said she was unsure of the festival's turnout or overall economic impact, but she did know that Friday's concert sold more than 2,100 tickets to folks from more than 30 states, including some sales from Canada. And many restaurants have been operating on a reservation-only basis, which is unusual in West Plains, which has a population of just more than 12,500.
Exchanging rings, vows under totality
Katie Prince and Micheal Spence, natives to the area, celebrate their one-year anniversary on April 21. They wanted to do something "unique" for their wedding ceremony, so they exchanged their rings during the three minutes of totality.
West Plains resident Paige Davis officiated the wedding, along with at least four others throughout the morning and early afternoon outside of the West Plains Civic Center.
"I like to do weddings that are untraditional, so I thought it would be a really cool way for other people to experience one another on the eclipse," Davis said.
The eclipse in Springfield
As the moon's shadow fell over the Ozarks, Springfieldians and travelers alike filled up Plaster Stadium at Missouri State University to experience about 97% totality. As the sky grew darker, SunChips and Moon Pies were doled out to the crowd.
"I like seeing everyone come out on campus and all do this together," said MSU student Paige Key. "I do love the snacks that are themed, so that's my favorite part right now."
MSU student Sarah Wood viewed the eclipse from the Catholic Campus Ministries building, where a small group gathered to look upward. At first, she thought she'd miss the eclipse for her afternoon kinesiology class. She said thankfully, her professor cancelled class shortly before totality began.
"He sent the message out 20 minutes ago and we screamed," Wood said. "We could not believe it. He was like, the last teacher that was going to cancel class."
Ahead of the crowds
Springfield residents also made the drive out to West Plains to experience totality. Bill Thomas, a faculty emeritus in Missouri State University's Physics, Astronomy, and Materials Science Department, arrived at around 5 p.m. on Sunday, expecting a high volume of traffic and crowds on Monday morning.
To Thomas' surprise, he was one of only a few cars who pulled into the West Plains Civic Center parking lot on Sunday evening. But he was eager to set up his DSLR camera with a telephoto lens and large solar filter. For the majority of Monday morning and early afternoon, he fielded questions from fellow festival attendees about his setup and the solar eclipse.
"They tell you that if you really want to enjoy life, figure out what you like most and figure out second how you get someone to pay you to do that," Thomas said with a chuckle.
Greta Cross is the trending topics reporter for the Springfield News-Leader. Follow her on X and Instagram @gretacrossphoto. Story idea? Email her at gcross@gannett.com .
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