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Steve Wright, president of Jay Peak ski resort, was shocked when a visitor called four years ago to reserve a room for viewing a total solar eclipse on April 8, 2024. At the time, Wright wasn't aware that the moon will pass between the sun and the Earth for a few minutes on that day, giving Vermont its first total eclipse since 1932. The next one isn't until 2106.
Then a friend in Idaho, whose ski area fell into darkness during a 2017 eclipse, warned Wright there might be thousands of visitors on eclipse day because Jay lies in the path of total darkness, or "path of totality."
"He said, 'Get ready for this,'" Wright recalled.
Thanks to the warning, Jay Peak is ready. The 900-room resort is almost fully booked, though nightly charges for Monday, April 8, and the preceding weekend are nearly double the usual April rate of around $250: $500, including ski tickets.
The eclipse is expected to yield a brief but intense burst of attention and visitor dollars all along the narrow path of totality, from western Mexico to eastern Canada. Vermont has taken note.
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In Vermont's most populous city, Burlington City Arts has secured a quarter-million dollars from the city for security, portable toilets and other infrastructure to go along with arts programming for the weekend before the eclipse. The University of Vermont is canceling classes that day, and in Burlington, classes will close midday.
The partial eclipse begins at 2:14 p.m. in Chittenden County, and total darkness descends at 3:27 p.m. While that will last only a few minutes, the partial eclipse will be visible until 4:37 p.m., according to Burlington City Arts, which is taking the lead on the city's event planning.
The state, for its part, is ordering thousands of cardboard eyeglasses that make it safe to view the eclipse without retina damage. The glasses will be distributed to towns and community organizations so they can be handed out for free.
In the Americas, the 100-mile-wide path of eclipse totality starts in Mexico and heads northeast, passing over Dallas, Indianapolis and Buffalo, N.Y. The central line of the eclipse clips the northwestern corner of Vermont, passing over Middlebury, Burlington and Montpelier.
This will be the only total solar eclipse to travel across Mexico, the United States, and Canada in the 21st century, according to the Fairbanks Museum & Planetarium in St. Johnsbury, which is going all out with educational programs based on the event.
The museum, long the host of robust weather reporting, will present 90 minutes of live minute-by-minute commentary by planetarium director Mark Breen and Jane Lindholm, host of NPR's "But Why? A Podcast for Curious Kids."
That commentary will play live on Vermont Public. The museum is offering additional activities and live-stream video from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, as well.
"Rain or shine, this will be an event to remember," the museum promises.
Sky watchers are not the only ones preparing. Many lodging owners have hiked room prices sharply. At Hotel Vermont, the daily rate is about $289 right now but jumps to $729 in early April for a king or two-bed room on the nights before and during the eclipse. A three-night stay at eclipse time at the Topnotch Resort in Stowe, also in the path of totality, will set guests back more than $1,000 a night. Some hotels are requiring a two- or three-night minimum.
click to enlarge - Anne Wallace Allen
- Wendy Monninger at the Marshfield Inn & Motel
Smaller mom-and-pop operations are seeing a boost in activity, too. Wendy Monninger, owner of the 10-room Marshfield Inn & Motel, got her first room reservation for the eclipse weekend in March 2021.
"She said, 'I want to see an eclipse before I die,'" Monninger said of the guest. When she opened up bookings for April, the inn, which is usually almost empty at that time of year, filled up quickly. Monninger said the bookings came in so fast that it didn't occur to her to raise room prices — about $135 per night — for the eclipse weekend. "I'm not going to price-gouge people," she said.
In Burlington, City Councilor Joan Shannon (D-South District) has long pushed to regulate short-term rentals, but at an October 23 council meeting, she noted that the eclipse offers an unusual chance for residents to make some extra money. Places that normally rent for about $150 per night are now going for as much as $1,000 — and most are sold out.
"I know I'm kind of known as the anti-Airbnb person here, but this is a good opportunity for anyone in Burlington to rent out a room," Shannon said, noting that the city allows anyone to do this for up to 14 days.
At Jay Peak, Wright has hired a Pink Floyd cover band to play the band's classic 1973 The Dark Side of the Moon album as darkness settles over the mountains in the midafternoon. He's planning to shut skiing down early so nobody's left on the mountain when it goes dark and to provide tram rides to the summit so visitors can view the eclipse from on high.
He expects thousands of people to hike to the top of the mountain that day; there's even a wedding planned on the peak during the eclipse. He's come around to the idea that people will travel from afar to see the moon cast a shadow over the Earth.
"Nobody balked at the room rates when we put them out there," he said.
The expected financial boon comes at a chilly, leafless time of year when the weather is unpredictable and tourism is spotty. Some tourism operators are uncomfortably aware that if clouds are forecast in Vermont, eclipse tourists might decide at the last moment to go elsewhere.
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory says there is just a 25 percent probability of cloudless skies over Vermont on April 8. Its report says ominously that "viewing the eclipse can be completely spoiled by the presence of a single cloud or other dense, haze-producing atmospheric components."
"It could be snowing. It could be sunny," said Zach Williamson, festival and event director for Burlington City Arts. "April is not a normal tourist time in the state."
Williamson recently attended a presentation by a consultant who had organized activities around the 2017 eclipse in Wyoming.
"We learned that people who are traveling to the eclipse are quite savvy and will go where they think they have the best shot of seeing it," he said.
The eclipse presents an unparalleled opportunity to show people what Burlington has to offer and prompt them to return, Williamson said. He noted that during the 2017 eclipse out west, the small city of Idaho Falls drew 300,000 visitors from all over the world.
Last month, he flagged the opportunity for the Burlington City Council. "There is quite a balloon effect on the community when they're fortunate to have this happen in their area," he told councilors.
Hans van Wees, general manager of Hotel Vermont, expects to be busy on the day of the eclipse. The hotel is hosting a party for guests on an outdoor deck with a clear view of the sky and has purchased its own supply of viewing glasses. He plans to take in the once-in-a-century event from the deck, too.
"I think we'll all take a break when it happens," he said.