Mar. 25—Area communities are taking advantage of a once-in-a-lifetime experience when the moon blots out the sun and brings total darkness by hosting multi-day celebrations. Authorities, meanwhile, are preparing for the possible traffic influx the path of totality might bring.

Dieterich will kick off the festivities with a two-day event that begins Sunday, April 7, and culminates with the eclipse on Monday, April 8. Why two days?

“The universe chose us. So, we just chose to celebrate,” said Diane Aherin, a Dieterich eclipse planning committee member.

The Party in the Path will feature food trucks, a beer garden and inflatables at Dieterich Liberty Park on both days.

On Sunday, viewers will get a glimpse of the solar spectacle in a star lab, while another event will have a solar panel of experts who will educate them on it. Both events will be held at the new Wright Family Center.

The star lab will be an inflatable planetarium that people can experience from 2 to 7 p.m. With limited seating, Aherin said people will be allowed in groups every hour on a first-come, first-served basis.

“If someone wants to see it, they’ll want to come early, and they may have to wait,” she said.

Aherin also advises people will have to sit on the floor and no shoes will be allowed.

Also on that day is a Solar Panel of Experts at 4 and 5 p.m. The panel will include WCIA Meteorologist Seth Bohnhoff, a Dieterich native, Lake Land College Physics Instructor Daniel Allen, and Megan Candelaria with the Wyoming NASA Space Grant Consortium, via Zoom.

Both events are free.

What’s a party without music? Flight 50 will perform from 6 to 9 p.m. on Sunday, and Hip Huggers will perform from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Monday, both at Dieterich Liberty Park.

Aherin notes that while parking will be free on Sunday, there will be paid parking on Monday, with the money going to Dieterich Unit 30 School District extracurricular activities. Dieterich students will get a day off on Monday, allowing them to join in the festivities.

For those who want to view the eclipse, special commemorative glasses with the Dieterich logo are available for sale at Dieterich Village Hall, Dieterich Bank, Wright’s Furniture and Wohltman Insurance. The glasses are $5 each or five for $20, and proceeds go to help pay for the celebration.

Aherin doesn’t know what size crowd to expect, but if the village’s popular Fourth of July celebration is any indication, it could be considerable.

“I think some of the authorities have said to expect the size of your town to double. On the Fourth of July, our town quadruples in size of our population,” she said.

Aherin said planning for the eclipse celebration has been two-fold for the village.

“It’s been planning for our party but also for the influx of traffic afterward, primarily from all the people heading home north,” she said.

Aherin recalls the constant line of traffic that came through the village after the eclipse in 2017, during which many traveled to view totality in southern Illinois.

“It was bumper to bumper, and people kind of weren’t prepared for that going home,” she said of motorists heading north.

Aherin said the gas station in the village ran out of gas, and Subway ran out of many food items.

“It’s just making sure the restaurants are geared up with food, hoping the gas station doesn’t run out of gas again,” she said, noting this time the village is in the path of totality.

“So, we know we could end up with a lot of people in town that day,” she said.

The Effingham County Sheriff’s Office is preparing for a possible influx of traffic.

“The last time we had an eclipse, we had several complaints about the traffic stoppages and the roads being backed up with people,” said Sheriff Paul Kuhns. “I want to say that when the roads are completely full of cars, no amount of directing traffic can change that.”

However, Kuhns said traffic may not be as bad this time because the path of the eclipse has shifted slightly southeast.

“Chicago traffic may go east and south, might come down through Indiana because it’s closer for them to get to totality. So that may miss us here. But we’ll see, who knows,” he said.

However, he does expect Interstate 57 to be heavy with traffic, which will, in turn, make U.S. Route 45 busy.

He said the sheriff’s office will have additional personnel on duty staged throughout the county in preparation for the eclipse.

“One of the problems we had during the last eclipse was that it was difficult for us to move because the roads were full. So, we’re hoping to have officers throughout the county so they can respond to a regular call for service,” he said.

Kuhns said his office has been meeting with other agencies, including the Emergency Management Agency, Illinois State Police and Illinois Department of Transportation in preparation for the event.

Kuhns urges motorists who plan to travel on main roads and interstates to be prepared for heavy traffic.

“If you are going to be out and traveling, you need to be prepared with fuel and phone chargers. If you’re traveling south for this eclipse, I would recommend staying the night and coming back the next day,” he said.

Clay County Emergency Services Disaster Coordinator Steve Lewis is gearing up for more traffic this year as a three-day event in Flora begins Saturday, April 6, with an Adult Easter Egg Hunt at Clay County Country Club.

“My thinking this year is people that went through it in 2017 remember the gridlock on the interstates will probably try to find alternate routes to try to avoid that, which might bring them more onto U.S. 45/50,” he said. “As far as our office goes, we’re preparing in case there’s fluctuation of traffic on 45/50, working with the police department and sheriff’s department on that.”

The Flora Eclipse will feature activities at Charley Brown Park on old U.S. Route 50, that include inflatables, a rock climbing wall, zip-lining, food vendors and fireworks at dusk. On Monday, food vendors and an 18-hold disc golf scramble, starting at 9 a.m., will lead into the big event. More information is available at florachamber.com/solar-eclipse-2024.

Cathy Griffith can be reached at cathy.griffith@effinghamdailynews.com or 618-510-9180.