Widespread Valley enthusiasm for partial eclipse

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

Eight-year-old Gavin Harding of Boardman was quick to decide what Monday’s solar eclipse brought to mind.

“It looked like a big orange cookie with a bite through it,” he said after viewing the eclipse through a telescope set up at the Mill Creek MetroParks Farm in Canfield by Youngstown State University’s Ward Beecher Planetarium.

Over the course of three hours, more and more bites were taken out of the cookie. The event peaked in this area shortly after 2:30 p.m. with about 83 percent of the sun eclipsed by the moon. In a 60-mile-wide path across 12 states in the U.S., the sun was totally eclipsed, marking the first total solar eclipse visible in the U.S. since 1979.

Although the Mahoning Valley experienced only a partial eclipse, the event drew widespread enthusiasm.

Approximately 5,000 people showed up at the MetroParks event, and a crowd of several hundred attended a viewing event at Spartan Stadium in Boardman.

People also gathered in downtown Youngstown and at YSU.

At the MetroParks, the parking lot quickly filled up. Other visitors parked across the street at the Canfield Fairgrounds. Early in the event, hundreds of people stood in line in the parking lot to get free eclipse glasses.

On a long swath of grass, visitors camped out under umbrellas and on lawn chairs and blankets.

Roger Wilson of Canfield said he decided to come out to the MetroParks Farm to view the eclipse because of the event’s rarity.

“I’m going to go through the telescope [line] as many times as I can,” he said.

Ward Beecher staff members manned three telescopes with protective filters to make viewing the eclipse safe.

“This is much more magnified so we can actually see the sunspots and the details on the surface,” explained planetarium engineer Curt Spivey.

The Mauch family of Boardman waited in line a few times to look through the telescopes.

“It’s just very cool looking. It’s fascinating,” said Cheryl Mauch.

After the sun reached maximum coverage, MaryJane D’Ambrosio of Canfield said it fully lived up to her expectations.

“I thought it was awesome,” she said. “It was like waiting for Christmas morning.”

About 400 people gathered at Boardman Spartan Stadium to watch the eclipse at an event teachers billed as a solar eclipse extravaganza.

The teachers thought the historic event was too good an opportunity to pass up.

Even though school isn’t in session, sixth-grade English teacher Liz Holter said they wanted to put together an event for the students and the community.

“Kids study space all through school,” Holter said. “They’re living it today.”

An added bonus of school not being in session, she said, is that they got to experience it with their families.

Brian Hoffman came to watch the eclipse with his three children. “We’ve been interested in astronomy,” he said. “This is an event you don’t want to miss.”

His daughter Sofia, an eighth-grader at Boardman schools, said she didn’t know what to expect, but the eclipse was really cool.

Volunteers handed out 200 pairs of glasses. The glasses ran out, but people shared theirs with people near them. Video of the eclipse also was projected onto the stadium’s big screen.

Justine Burkey, who teaches chemistry at Boardman, said the best part is that it’s a community event.

“This is not something you see every day,” she said.

Hoffman said events like this are why he lives in Boardman.

“This is great,” he said. “This is one of the main reasons we love Boardman schools.”

In downtown Youngstown, people poured out of businesses and dotted the sidewalks as peak eclipse time approached. Kids and their parents who built pinhole eclipse viewers at the OH WOW! Children’s Center for Science & Technology gathered outside the museum.

Z Kermani and her son Hank Kermani-Carlson were waiting in the plaza starting about 1 p.m.

“My favorite part was when the rainbow showed up with the moon,” Kermani-Carlson said. He theorized the rainbow he saw was a result of moisture in the air and light passing around the moon.

Groups of people passed around single pairs of solar eclipse glasses among themselves.

OH WOW! hosted an eclipse viewing party outside and helped kids build pinhole viewers, an alternative to eclipse glasses, out of cereal boxes, paper and tinfoil. The museum broadcast NASA’s eclipse live stream as well.

“It was pretty neat, and it was something I’ve never experienced before,” said Jessica Richardson of Warren. “This was the first time I saw something like this.”

She added, “I want to enjoy watching this with my daughter in 2024 so she can see what I saw.”

At YSU, more than 150 students, faculty and community members gathered, sharing glasses with one another so everyone had the opportunity to view history.

“It’s simply just an amazing phenomenon,” said Turki Almuarik, a YSU electrical engineering freshman sitting on the lawn near Ward Beecher Hall.

YSU President Jim Tressel said anytime there’s an activity getting people together on campus with such enthusiasm is wonderful.

Youngstown Board of Education President Brenda Kimble shared her surrounding community members’ enthusiasm.

“Here we are right in the center of town and we are able to come here and observe history,” she said. “It’s nice that it’s open to everyone – not just students – and everyone has a chance no matter what walk of life they are.”

Christopher Alonso, a YSU graduate student, said he was just grateful for the opportunity on campus.

Jeff Bersett of New Wilmington, Pa., brought his two children, Nat, 12, and Lizzie, 9, and mirrored Alonso’s sentiment.

“We came all this way, so we’re happy to have this chance,” he said.

Contributors: staff writers Jordyn Grzelewski, Billy Ludt, Justin Wier and Amanda Tonoli.