MONTPELIER, Vt. (WCAX) – Vermont’s Capital City will be in the path of the April 8th total solar eclipse, and the community and state officials are preparing for the historic event.
Starting on April 6, Montpelier’s Kellogg Hubbard Library will be hosting guest speakers and eclipse-themed crafts for kids. They will also be participating in a new program from Harvard that translates the eclipse into sound so people with a loss of sight can experience the celestial event.
“We are going to help people have a fuller more holistic experience of the eclipse and really be able to understand what they are seeing and experiencing if they were just getting a pair of eclipse glasses and looking up at the sun,” said the library’s Carolyn Picazio.
Montpelier Alive is organizing two public viewing areas at the College of Fine Arts and on the Statehouse lawn. Eight months after the devastating floods swept through the downtown, the city will once again have a hotel downtown. The Capitol Plaza is scheduled to open next month and rooms for the big weekend are already booked solid.
“Almost a year after the flood, we’re back in business,” said Montpelier Mayor Jack McCullough. He says the eclipse — and expected visitors — could be a boon for local businesses, many of which are still reeling from the flood. “For a city like Montpelier, we enjoy being open to the world, having people from all over come, and we expect that to happen next month.”
At the Statehouse, lawmakers in the coming weeks plan to introduce a resolution on the house floor to commemorate the once-in-a-lifetime event that last happened in the summer of 1932.
“There’s not that many people around that can remember that. They may have been babies, but not many people today have been able to say that they’ve seen one in Vermont,” said Rep. Bobby Farlice-Rubio, D-Barnet.
Governor Phil Scott says preparing for the eclipse is an effort spanning across state government. “Take it in safely with the right protection, but take it all in. We won’t see this again in our lifetime,” he said.
Click here for all our eclipse coverage to help you get ready for the big day.