If that solar eclipse totality path won’t reach Pittsburgh, well, Pittsburgh Union Progress journalists will just have to travel to where it does to cover this amazing event.
Hey, that’s a major benefit of journalism! We go to places as the eyes and ears for those who can’t and to record — as accurately as possible — that rough draft of history. And we love it!
Of course, we’re still on strike, nearly 18 months now against the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, so we will be covering it as cheaply as possible. We’re heading north close to Erie, just across the New York border, and to Ohio, staying with and visiting friends and family. One PG striker and PUP graphic artist extraordinaire is lucky to be living right within that path in Wooster, Ohio.
But the Pittsburgh region will indeed still have a side benefit of that eclipse on Monday, too, as the moon on its path will cover approximately 97% of the sun visible here, according to Carnegie Science Center staff. The timeline on the North Shore: The eclipse starts at 2 p.m., reaches its maximum at 3:17 p.m. and ends at 4:30 p.m.
And many schools in the region will either close or dismiss students early so they can experience it with their families and friends, possibly heading to planned special events and watch parties. (See related story.)
Why are we heading out of town then? The next total solar eclipse that will come anywhere near us won’t occur until Aug. 23, 2044. Then it won’t be our turn for eclipse excitement: Only three U.S. states will be in the path of totality: North Dakota, South Dakota and Montana.
Erie has been gearing up throughout the past year for the big event. Visit Erie has tons of information for eclipse enthusiasts, including the path of totality and start times: Erie (Downtown) 3:16:23 p.m., Corry 3:17:18 p.m., Edinboro 3:16:22 p.m., North East 3:16:47 p.m., Lake City 3:15:58 p.m. and Waterford 3:16:36 p.m. Duration at each location ranges from 2 minutes, 50 seconds to 3 minutes, 42 seconds before it shuffles on toward Buffalo and other parts of New York and up to Maine.
The main city on our state’s North Coast won’t be in the path of another total solar eclipse until 2144. So the city and region have many events and activities as well as items for sale to make this one memorable. Visitors will find special beer at a number of breweries and can purchase eclipse T-shirts and tumblers (of course), hoodies, coffee, even moonshine and more. Want to book a last-minute hotel room? Good luck and be prepared to shell out lots and lots of dollars if you can even find one.
Some highlights: a Lights Out winery package that started Friday with 21 Lake Erie Wine Country wineries offering tasting and eclipse-themed food items; eclipse mugs, black of course, at Moosehead Pottery; Erie’s Eclipse mead at Ironstone Meadery, brewed with dark berries.
Forbes magazine lauded breweries all across the totality path for their eclipse creations. One brewery, Lavery Brewing Co. in Erie, made that list with its Czech Dark Lager (Tmave 13) called In the Path of Totality 3:16pm. As one of the Simons Foundation’s partners, Lavery will be donating proceeds from the sale of its eclipse beer to a local science organization — in this case, the doubly appropriate Master Brewers Association of the Americas (District Pittsburgh).
Simons is also working with Design to Disrupt, Erie Arts & Culture & FEED and Lake Erie Arboretum at Frontier. It is supporting more than 100 organizations — museums and art and cultural centers — “to ensure everyone in the path has an unforgettable experience,” according to its website.
Lavery Brewing “crossed orbital paths” with Grove City’s Big Rail Brewing to collaborate on Sunglasses Required kellerbier (unfiltered German-style lager) that will be available before the eclipse on draft and in four-packs to go.
The New York Almanack has a list of special beers from 35 breweries. And hey, if you can’t travel to them, you can surely order some online.
But let’s get back to seeing the actual eclipse. Visit Erie lists its best viewing locations with helpful information. Just wake up early Monday, maybe not even sleep Sunday night, to get to them! Traffic might be horrendous, and once you get there, it will be crowded. We believe it will be worth the effort.
If state parks are your thing, four of Pennsylvania’s will be in the totality path: Presque Isle State Park, Erie Bluffs State Park, Pymatuning State Park and Maurice K. Goddard State Park, according to the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources. At many state parks across the state, viewing parties and watches have been planned.
Don’t want to chance the traffic and possible weather issues? Options exist here, including the Carnegie Science Center, Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh, and at Allegheny Observatory and Frick Park with the Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy and its partners.
Just make sure no matter where you watch to get those strange-looking glasses or create your own pinhole viewing device and adhere to all safety rules experts have been preaching for weeks.
Even people who booked seats on two pricey but sold-out Delta flights from Texas to Detroit on Monday will be wearing those glasses with their view of it from 30,000 feet up.
Those flights would have busted our PUP expense budget. Instead, here’s what some of us will be doing on eclipse day:
Helen Fallon
I started looking up information on the eclipse about six months ago because I loved seeing the partial eclipse in August 2017 with new Point Park University students in my other life as a college professor. I realized that one of the best guys in my Clairton High School class, Bert Richnafsky, lives right smack in the totality path. So I am heading to his Ripley, New York, home, with my lifelong friend and fellow explorer, Helen Patrick. We’re heading up early Sunday to beat traffic and staying at least a day later to check out more of the area once the crowds leave.
We’re staying put in Bert’s yard, which is right off Lake Erie, with a few others to watch the main event. Let’s just say we’re planning the appropriate beverages to toast it and enough food to make it even more memorable.
It’s just kismet that fellow PG striker and wonderful photographer Alexandra Wimley and I are both heading to that same charming New York city as you read this. I will let her explain ….
Alexandra Wimley
My fiancé and I are heading up to Ripley, New York, to spend Sunday night glamping in an A-frame cabin. Then we will watch the total solar eclipse from the shores of Lake Erie on Monday.
This specific location was chosen for me because when I started searching a little over a month ago, it was one of the last accommodations I could find in the path of totality that didn’t cost thousands of dollars for a night!
This will be my first time seeing a total solar eclipse, but seeing and photographing a partial eclipse in Chicago on Aug. 21, 2017, was a highlight of my internship at the time with the Chicago Tribune. I loved photographing the absolute awe on onlookers’ faces, and I can’t wait to see how much more awe-inspiring an eclipse is during totality.
Steve Mellon
My wife, Brenda, and I are heading to Canton, Ohio, on Monday morning. We’re going there to visit our daughter Brooke, in her second year as a high school math teacher at a school just north of the city. It just so happens that we’ll see an eclipse while there.
Well, that’s partially true. Brooke invited us. Her school has canceled classes that day, so she’s free, and Canton is in the path of totality. She thought it would be cool if we saw it with her. In addition, she bought a set of used outdoor furniture during a visit to Pittsburgh a few weeks ago, and she couldn’t fit all of the pieces in her car, so Brenda and I are delivering the remainder of the set. We’ll be performing a parental duty while witnessing a celestial event. You can’t quite say the stars aligned for us, but certainly the moon and sun seem in sync for the trip.
We’ll be driving up state Route 65 and then jumping on state roads in Ohio. By staying off the interstates and turnpikes, we’re hoping to avoid an apocalyptic traffic jam. We’ll be passing East Palestine, Ohio. We’ll drive through the downtown area so Brenda can see the place I’ve spent so much of my time in the past year, reporting the aftermath of the 2023 rail disaster.
Jacob Klinger
My partner and I realized some time the week before that we could actually swing ourselves into the path of totality. After some frantic, mostly hilariously fruitless combing of the internet for places to stay, it turned out one of my good friends in Ohio was gonna be out of town. So, me, my partner, and a couple friends will be rocking up over there for about a day, attending a Margaret Killjoy presentation and preparedness gear swap at the Rhizome House (check it out!), then seeing what we learn about ourselves and this corner of the universe in the dark on Monday. As ever, friendship beats the hell out of AirBnb.
Bob Batz Jr.
Having experienced and loved 2017’s Great American Eclipse in the path of totality in Barren Plains, Tennessee, with a group of University of Pittsburgh scientists and students called the Shadow Bandits, I’ll probably stay put for this one. But I will travel vicariously by following the Pitt team’s NASA project for this eclipse from a spot in totality near San Antonio, Texas, and you can follow along, too, starting Sunday night, at this website: https://www.pitt.edu/pittwire/features-articles/shadow-bandits-eclipse-chasing.
Jennifer Kundrach
I often feel a little left out, being the only striking worker and member of the PUP team who isn’t located in Pittsburgh. But for once, my rural Ohio town is going to be at the center of the action. Wooster, roughly 2½ hours northwest of Pittsburgh, will fall just inside the path of totality for Monday’s solar eclipse.
Several businesses and organizations have events planned for the day. Ohio State University’s College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences extension campus in Wooster will have several different educational and hands-on activities, food trucks and a live video simulcast of the eclipse.
The Wayne County Library is having educational events at all its branches on various days leading up to the eclipse. My daughter and I will be attending the day of watch party at the Wooster main branch after meandering around downtown at our favorite shops for a while. The library has advertised that there will be activities for the kids and a limited supply of free eclipse glasses. Luckily, we bought a few pairs for ourselves already because they’re sure to run out.
Helen is a copy editor at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, but she's currently on strike. Contact her at hfallon@unionprogress.com.