Eclipse viewed at small gatherings

Elizabeth Worth of New Hartford set up her telescope on the Walmart lawn.

“It was amazing,” said the Mohawk Valley Astronomical Society member. “I was a little disappoint by the clouds. It like a 360 degree sunset. We could see lights coming on.”

Northern Regional Center for Independent Living offices including the one in Lowville close at noon in order to prepare for a festive day for viewing of the solar eclipse.

“Multiple lawn games were available with corn hole and ladder ball as choice favorites, while festive music played,” said Karen Boliver, NRCIL associate director. “A picnic to celebrate the eclipse included hotdogs, sun chips, moon pies, Sunny Delight, Capri Sun and water. Two festive cakes were created as a moon and the sun. The once in a lifetime event did not disappoint participants as light turned to darkness and back to daylight. Folks expressed their appreciation to gather together at NRCIL and enjoy such an amazing experience as a solar eclipse. Many cameras captured the event in motion and will forever be a special memory shared together.”

Beaver Camp invited eclipse watcher to come for overnight camping with evening talks and S’mores around a campfire; outdoor activities and educational sessions.

“It was a great experience,” said Mike Judd, executive director. “Not a huge crowd — around 40. Most spent the night. Two parties were from New Jersey, three parties from just south of Albany, another party from Philadelphia, Penn., another from Canandaigua and one local party from Lyons Falls. Viewing conditions were amazing. We all got a little nervous as more clouds rolled in closer to totality, but when totality came the clouds broke enough to see the eclipse just fine.”

Although schools were closed, there were still activities.

Beaver River Central School hosted an EclipseFest for students, families and the community activities for all ages and food trucks.

Copenhagen Central School had a program for students who had previously signed up.

“It was really great,” said school principal Nadine O’Shaughnessy. “We had 13 students plus several teachers and staff who brought their kids or grandkids. We started out in the school building on fun activities — making T-shirts, UV sensitive bracelets, decorating cookies, selfie-booth, decorating goodie bags and then filling them with celestially named goodies — moon pies, Sunny-D, star crunch, cosmic brownies, Eclipse Gum. Then we went outside and played games like corn hole, ladder ball, can jam, disc golf. And of course, we watched the eclipse through the clouds. It was a great experience and the kids had so much fun.”

In Carthage the First Baptist Church hosted an eclipse bash.

“It went very well,” said Pastor Erik Svereika. “We not only had many of the church family attend, but we had a bunch of neighborhood families stop by as well as folks relatives visiting from out of state.”

In front of the State Street church, there was music, food, drink, lawn game, children’s activities and solar eclipse glasses available. Solar dogs, eclipse chips, total tea, blackout coffee, cosmic clusters and eclipse cupcakes were available by donation to benefit the Northcountry Music Festival to be held in July.

There were also small gatherings at Black River American Legion and B. Elizabeth Strong Memorial Library hosted an event at Turin Park.