Apr. 9—CONNEAUT — Hundreds of people viewed Monday afternoon’s total solar eclipse along the Lake Erie shore and at venues in the city.

Before the start of the eclipse, staff closed the gates of Conneaut Township Park, because all of the parking lots were at capacity. Numerous people, both locals and visitors, set up telescopes and cameras to view the eclipse.

Keith Nitschke, of Albion, Pa., said it was overcast when he got up, so he started heading west to see if he could find a place with clear skies.

He and Daniel Helmbrecht were setting up a pair of telescopes next to the pavilion at Conneaut Township Park just before the start of the eclipse.

“We came out to the Ohio line, and we were trying to decide if we were going to go down by Middlefield or something,” Nitschke said.

“We said we’d check out the beach here, and it started looking like it was clearing, so we decided to set up.”

Scott Mikutsky drove from Maryland on Sunday, and initially planned to watch the watch the eclipse from Conneaut Lake, Pa.

“Found that regular Conneaut just had better weather,” he said.

Mikutsky works for the NASA Goddard Spaceflight Center, in Maryland.

“I’m a technician, not so much of a scientist,” he said.

After the 2017 total eclipse, Mikutsky saw Conneaut Lake was in the path of totality for Monday’s eclipse.

“I wasn’t going to not come,” he said.

Mike Coombs, of Sewickley, Pa., took photos of the eclipse throughout.

“This has been my third try at being able to see it, and I wasn’t missing it for nothing,” he said.

He said he’s always been interested in science and electronics, which led to an interest in computers.

Bill Steinhart, of Lancaster, Pa., was initially in Kane, Pa., last night, then drove to Jamestown, Pa., but it was cloudy there.

He said his daughter sent him a picture of the of the sun being out, and he told her to save him a spot.

“It’s the coolest thing I’ve ever seen, that’s as close to a description as you can get, really,” he said.

Steinhart said he liked hearing the crowd cheering as the moon fully eclipsed the sun.

“That was actually pretty cool,” he said.

Park visitors noticed the lighthouse just northeast of the park turning on as the skies darkened, and as the moon totally eclipsed the sun, multiple people pointed out the sunset-like quality of the sky all around the park.

Buccia Vineyard was also busy on Monday, as the winery hosted an event for the eclipse, called the Great Gig in the Sky.

Buccia owner Bill Holden said tickets for the event sold out a couple weeks ago, and 150 people were expected to attend.

“We have On the Rocks playing, they’re going to do a couple hours of Pink Floyd music during the eclipse,” he said.

The winery also had a lunch buffet set up for attendees.

Holden said he also lived in the path of totality of the 2017 total eclipse.

“We’ve got people from New York, New Jersey, Maryland, that are all staying with us or have traveled here for the event and have tickets.”