PEORIA, Ill. – People from all over central Illinois came to the Peoria Riverfront Museum on Monday to see the solar eclipse.
The Museum’s Melody Konrad says reservations to view the eclipse from the Sun Plaza there were still coming in Monday morning.
“We had 1,600 people before this event even started, click that they were going to be here. And, though we haven’t tabulated the entirety of who was here today (Monday), I very confidently would say it was over a thousand,” Konrad says.
And, that was just on the Museum’s Sun Plaza. Hundreds more people were camped out with their own lawn chairs, coolers and blankets on the Museum grounds and down on the Peoria riverfront.
Peoria Riverfront Museum’s Sadie Helmick described the scene Monday as a party…with food trucks, music and a lot of people there having a great time.
“It was good to see the community come out together, and just enjoy nature,” Helmick says.
Many people brought along their young children who had never experienced an eclipse before.
The solar eclipse hit its peak in Central Illinois just after 2 p.m., with 94-percent of the eclipse visible here, ending just after 3 p.m.
Helmick says the Museum store started selling certified safe eclipse glasses last week, with 800 sold on Monday alone.
But, Helmick says many more eclipse glasses were donated ahead of Monday’s eclipse.
“We gave them out to our community…we gave them out thanks to a donor to Peoria Public Schools. I think it was Wednesday last week that we began giving them out to first responders, trying to get more people to view it (the eclipse) and with our glasses,” Helmick says.
The next total solar eclipse visible in the U.S. won’t be for another 20 years, in 2045. But, Helmick says they’re ready with plenty of eclipse glasses left.
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