Erie, in Pennsylvania, has suffered economic decline in recent years but now finds itself preparing for an influx of visitors eager to witness an extraordinary phenomenon
PINCKNEYVILLE, ILLINOIS - APRIL 05: A pizza restaurant advertises that it will be open during the April 8th solar eclipse in Pinckneyville, Illinois. Photograph: Scott Olson/Getty ImagesJohn Melody knows exactly where he will be watching the Great American Eclipse. The Dungarvan man will stand on the deck at Pier Six, one of six bars and restaurants he established in the city of Erie with a partner over the past few decades.
“Very industrial. Very blue collar. And I often think: I was coming to the States no matter who called in 1986 and of all the places I could have ended up, I ended up in a fairly good place. It is off the beaten track. It is middle-town America. But I like middle-town America. You know who people are and they know you. There is more of a community feel.
And it is one of the reasons why Monday’s epic, once-in-a-generation fall of midafternoon darkness is causing such a stir in the community. In early April, Erie is still emerging from its deep winter hibernation. “Winter is harsh. Summers are stunning,” is Melody’s succinct summary of the seasons. Sunday morning is blue-skied and sunny but there is a bite in the breeze that travels through the shadows of the lakeside buildings.
Erie has been planning for over a year for an event whose most eagerly anticipated moment will, strictly speaking, come and go in under four minutes. But the entirety of the eclipse will last for 2½ hours, with the shadow moving at 2,400km/h across the states that lie on the “path of totality” - where the moon will completely and briefly cover the sun.
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