What could be the most profound — or spookiest — three minutes of your life is happening a year from now, on the afternoon of April 8, 2024.
And Rochester is hoping to cash in.
The total solar eclipse could draw upward of 350,000 visitors to the area, officials estimate — packing hotels, snarling traffic and giving a boost to the local tourism industry unlike anything we have seen.
“It is an opportunity for business,” Mayor Malik Evans said Thursday. “And I'm a banker ... I understand something very well called the hotel-motel tax.”
He joined other dignitaries for a news conference at the Rochester Museum & Science Center's Strasenburgh Planetarium, highlighting the planning that already has gone into capitalizing on that day. Rochester is in the eclipse path. Brockport is directly on the center line.
Planning for that day — still a year away — has been ongoing for a year or more.
School is likely to be canceled across the region. Hotels are being urged to require two- or three-night minimum bookings to maximize the tourism impact. That impact is estimated in the millions of dollars.
All for 3 minutes and 38 seconds of “totality.”
Learn more: Click here to visit RMSC's eclipse website.
The moon passes in front of the sun somewhere over the Earth every 18 or 19 months. But 70% of the planet’s surface is covered by water. When the eclipse path passes over land, allowing people to gather and watch, it’s a big deal.
On April 8, 2024, here in Rochester, the moon should begin to move in front of the sun at 2:07 p.m. Totality begins at 3:20 p.m. The eclipse will end for Rochester at 4:33 p.m.
“It's the middle of the day ... it gets dark, it will last for three or four minutes. But they are the spookiest three or four minutes that you will probably encounter in your entire life,” University of Rochester astrophysicist Adam Frank said in an interview.
The hope is for a cloudless day. But whatever the weather, darkness descends, temperatures drop, birds return to their nests and crickets start chirping as if it is night.
Debra Ross, the founder of Kids Out and About, is leading the local eclipse task force and spearheading planning efforts. She road-tripped to Missouri with her daughter for the August 2017 eclipse.
"I was an eclipse skeptic,” she said, but came out "electrified and on fire.”
“For that minute and a half that year, there was nothing in the universe as far as I was concerned except the sun, the moon, the Earth, and me. It is a profound personal, human and community experience.”
The last time Rochester was in the line of the eclipse was 1925. The next time? 2144.
The area will be awash with events and festivals. No worries, special viewing glasses will be plentiful. More than 50 eclipse “ambassadors” representing all nine counties and various demographics have been signed up to spread the word.
“Start scouting out your locations,” said Dan Schneiderman, eclipse partnerships coordinator with RMSC. “And one other thought. Think about who you want to be with during totality next year. Do you want to be with your family? Your friends? Your loved ones? Your kids?
“Personally, I'm probably going to be holding my daughter.”
Includes reporting by Deputy Editor Jeremy Moule.
