From BG INDEPENDENT NEWS STAFF
Thousands gather at BGSU to view the celestial phenomenon
The light went out at Doyt Perry Stadium just after 3 p.m. today, and the place went wild.
About 5,000 voices cheered as the moon blacked out the sun. The few moments some have been anticipating for years had arrived, a total solar eclipse. Then some three minutes later, they cheered again when the sun peeped back out from behind the moon.
“I’ve been waiting for this for a while,” said Erin Vest. She was at BGSU with her six children, whom she homeschools, and one of their friends.
She was in Kentucky for the 2017, and when she learned the family would be moving to Toledo, she immediately checked to see if it was in the path of totality.
They came with homemade instruments for viewing and experiencing the eclipse.
Vest decided this was the place to witness the eclipse because it was drivable and a safe place with accessible bathrooms.
Also, more than two dozen tables with all manner of information on eclipses marked one sideline.
One of the tables demonstrated in scale both the size of the moon compared to the sun, and the distance between them.
The moon propped up near the table was less than the size of pea. The viewer could look at it across the stadium to a yellow circular sun and see for themselves just how the moon could cover the much larger star.
Miles Carlberg, a third grader from Kenosha, Wisconsin, was checking out the table. He loves science, his father, Eric, said. Miles said he is currently reading Neil deGrasse Tyson’s “Astrophysics for People in a Hurry.”
They came to Bowling Green at the invitation of a family friend, Linda Toscano.
Carlberg felt that given Bowling Green was a little of the center for totality, it would be less hectic.
Also, checking out the display was Matthew Dugas, CEO and founder of Arcnano Inc. in White Bear Lake, Minnesota. He’d originally planned to travel to Austin, Texas, but the weather report was horrible.
So, he canceled those plans. On Sunday, he booked a flight to Detroit, and found a hotel room.
He knows the area because Arcnano does business with Materion in Elmore. Dugas was impressed with what BGSU had planned. The watch party gives people a chance to experience the celestial event that has fascinated humanity for millions of years a chance to experience it together, he said.
That was the point of organizing the gathering in the stadium, said Andrew Layden, chair of the Department of Physics and Astronomy at BGSU. He along with Kate Dellenbusch, acting director of the planetarium on campus spearheaded the university’s eclipse programming.
For the past partial eclipses in 1994 and 2017, the university held events at the planetarium. “We couldn’t handle the number of people who would want to look through the telescopes,” he said. This offered the opportunity to grow the event. That included weekly talks leading up to the eclipse and music composed by students that played periodically over the loudspeakers.
Layden served as master of ceremonies at the watch party. He provided guidance about how the eclipse was developing, and warned about when viewing glasses were necessary. He introduced speakers including BGSU President Rodney Rogers and Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences Ellen Schendel.
Also, on hand to entertain was the Falcon Marching Band, which included a rendition of “Fly Me to the Moon” featuring vocalists Kennedi Priest and Charlie Lange.
Outside the stadium a contingent of Jehovah’s Witnesses from Toledo were greeting viewers.
Mark Smith, who spoke for the group. “It’s a phenomenal event and it involves the sun and the moon, and our creator made those things,” he said. “So, it was a nice chance for people to reflect on what they see and get some Bible literature.”
Layden promised the crowd that when totality arrived “I’ll shut up and let you experience it in your own way.”
“It was definitely cool how it got dark all of a sudden in the middle of the day,” said Hailee Wolff. She was one group of six students who came together to experience the event.
“Awesome” was Manny Willis’ word.
“Overwhelming and beautiful,” said Lawrence Williamson.
“It was a little scary, I won’t lie, but it was cool,” said Alpha Ndong.
“It was cool to see everyone get happy at the same time,” said Jeremiah Eldemire.
That sense of togetherness also added to the experience for Emaleigh Heckel.
Layden said: “The cheer that went up when people saw the shadow come and the eclipse happen, that’s what I was hoping would happen, that deep feeling of joy and excitement. We all shared it together.”
Dellenbusch said she was elated that the watch party had gone so well “and so many people enjoyed the eclipse.”
The students both felt it was a once-in-a-lifetime experience, while also hoping that they may get another chance.
They’ll have to wait until Sept. 14, 2099, for the next total eclipse to darken Northwest Ohio. A total eclipse is expected in Barcelona, Spain and Reykjavik, Iceland, on Aug. 12, 2026. Then there’ll be one Aug. 2, 2027, in northern Egypt.
Dugas, the physicist from Minnesota, said that to date he hasn’t been “an eclipse groupie” who traveled from place to place to witness the phenomenon. “I think I’m one now.”
– DAVID DUPONT
Simpson provides quiet spot to view ‘majestic’ eclipse
With its wide open spaces, Simpson Garden Park provided an eclipse viewing spot for people not wanting to be packed in like sardines.
As the sky began darkening, people put on their eclipse glasses and stared upward. Cheers erupted when the moon gradually covered the sun, eliciting oooohs and aaaaahs as people safely shed their protective eyewear.
“Oh my God, this is unreal,” said Tim Harwell, who drove with his wife, Darcy, from Eastlake, in northern Michigan, to Bowling Green for a glimpse. “This is fricking majestic.”
Darcy confided that this eclipse was a “revenge eclipse” for her, 30 years after her third grade teacher kept her inside for detention during the eclipse in 1994.
“It was worth every minute. It was worth every mile,” Darcy Harwell said on Monday.
However, the trip home promised to be much longer as visitors to the region tried to return home.
“It was smooth sailing getting here – but getting out of here isn’t going to be,” said Tim Harwell.
A group of experienced eclipse viewers from Kentucky came prepared, with a cooler of food, flower leis, bubbles, and an extra roll of toilet paper in case the park restroom ran out. Their eclipse playlist included the Beatles’ “Here Comes the Sun,” and Pink Floyd’s “Dark Side of the Moon.”
“It was more amazing than I thought it would be. I never ever cry – but I started crying,” said Lauren French.
The Kentucky friends drove up here on the weekend, and plan to head home Tuesday. They decided to take their time, since they recalled the partial eclipse in Tennessee in 2017, when it took eight hours to travel to Louisville – a distance that normally took two hours, said Anthony Slack.
Simpson Garden Park, somewhat off the beaten path, was a popular destination Monday afternoon for eclipse viewing visitors from Michigan and Kentucky.
A row of students from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor were stretched out on the grass. A group of four friends from Detroit had taken off work to come down to get a good view.
And another group of five buddies set up a table and chairs to play the medieval adventure board game Carcassonne until the eclipse began.
“I didn’t understand how cool this was,” said Matt Tuskey, from Ann Arbor.
Major highways like U.S. 23 and Interstate 75 were already starting to clog this morning, so the friends found an alternate route.
“We took the back roads,” and planned to do the same while heading back north, said Robert Turner, of St. Clair Shores, Michigan.
There was also a small contingency of eclipse viewers at Simpson Garden Park from Pennsylvania.
Sisters Celeste DiMarco and Cynthia DiMarco, of Lititz, Pennsylvania, made plans more than a year ago to visit their Bowling Green friend Linda Van Blaricom during the total eclipse.
“We wanted to see the full eclipse. We planned this as soon as we found out about it,” Celeste DiMarco said.
The friends were joined by Casey Shadduck, of East Lansing, a niece of Van Blaricom’s.
“This is a once-in-a-lifetime event,” Shadduck said.
The four women were wearing eclipse T-shirts from Grounds for Thought Coffee in downtown Bowling Green.
After the eclipse was over, Van Blaricom was not disappointed.
“It just intrigues me,” she said. “It was magical.”
Some BGSU students watched the eclipse at the garden park, wanting a more subdued setting than the football stadium.
Kathleen Singh and her mom, Beth Lowen, from Dublin, Ohio, staked out Adirondack chairs at the park. Singh had seen the partial eclipse in 2017 in Tennessee, and wanted to share this one with her mom.
“It’s a feeling and a sight that I’ve never seen replicated,” Singh said.
And some people walked from a block away from Bourgogne Avenue to sit at the park and observe. This group had its own playlist – “The Planets” a series of classical pieces by Gustav Holst.
Betsy and Mike Solley, of Bowling Green, were joined by friends from Holland, Ohio.
“You get a couple more seconds here,” said Rick Lane, who came with his wife, Sally.
Granddaughter Londynn Allport, 9, and her dad, Dennis, also attended.
Like other students in the region, Londynn got the day off school due to the eclipse. “I’d rather be here,” she said.
Besides, the after-eclipse party at her grandparents’ house on Bourgogne featured a solar themed menu with blackened trout, oreos, moonpies, deviled eggs with black olives, crescent rolls, lemon curd tarts with blackberries, Sunchips, and “Moonhattens” for the adults.
– JAN McLAUGHLIN
