The Center for Rural Engagement awarded 30 micro grants to communities, as well as provided information and planning guidance for interested groups.
(Clayton Baumgarth - WFIU/WTIU)
When the eclipse passes over Indiana on April 8, a massive number of visitors will flock to rural parts of the state that normally only see a small number of tourists.
Towns and groups are attempting to make the most out of this opportunity by providing free events and activities to both local community members and visitors alike.
For example, Sierra Rutledge, the clerk treasurer for the town of Shoals, said that community is preparing to host a viewing event at its local baseball field.
“It will be a free event, we'll have 1,000 free glasses to give away, we'll have local vendors of baked goods and handicrafts, we have a lot of local businesses that will be participating with specials and their own items all being eclipse-themed as well,” she said.
The location of Shoals' eclipse viewing event. (Devan Ridgway, WTIU News)
In Spencer, Jonathan Balash, the president of Spencer Pride, said residents are planning a robust day filled with activities, including an eclipse photography workshop, a science-themed drag show, and local history lessons highlighting inclusivity in the area.
“Whether it's women's suffrage, civil rights, or you know, the work of our own Spencer Pride organization, this is a legacy of work that's happened in our small community over many years,” he said.
For Balash, the totality is an opportunity to educate people and challenge the ideas they may have on the people who live in rural areas.
“Maybe their perceptions of what a small town in a very rural, conservative area is, maybe they'll have some of those misconceptions challenged in terms of how welcoming a community can be, how inclusive a community can be,” he said.
Spencer Pride's shop and event space in downtown Spencer. During the eclipse, they will have a live feed of an electronic telescope inside the space. (Devan Ridgway, WTIU News)
In Vincennes, the Knox County Association of Remarkable Citizens will host an event focused on allowing everyone, including those with special needs, to enjoy the eclipse.
“A lot of them don't have the opportunity to go out to different events to do different things, whether it be finances, or whether it be just because of their disability,” said association facility coordinator Trudy McCormick. “And so this is amazing because we're making this adaptable to everybody of all abilities.”
Association Marketing Coordinator Elizabeth Hardin said the event will have all the usual trimmings like music and food, but also crafting areas, karaoke, and tools that provide sensory input for those to experience the eclipse in their own way such as those who are visually impaired.
“When the light moves over this box, the tone on the speaker will change, so they can enjoy it just like we can, just in a different way,” she said.
McCormick, reporter Clayton Baumgarth, and Hardin stand at the site of KCARC's upcoming event. (Lucinda Larnach, WTIU News)
All of these events require time, planning, and perhaps most importantly, money, something that’s not always available to smaller towns and organizations.
“Spencer Pride didn't plan, from a financial perspective, well in advance to be hosting thousands and thousands of people at an event mid-year,” Balash said. “This is in the middle of our fiscal year here; it would have been a challenge for us to kind of re-adjust.”
But thanks to the Center for Rural Engagement at IU, all these events have been made possible thanks to micro grants the groups applied for and won.
Kyla Cox Deckard, director of strategy and communications for the center, said a sum of $60,000 was made possible from the Simons Foundation and its Path of Totality Initiative.
“We were able to offer micro grants to 30 communities,” she said. “These micro grants were in the amount of $2,000 to support their arts and cultural community activities around the solar eclipse.”
Deckard said the support not only allows for the events to take place but provides a launching point for future tourism opportunities.
“This is an opportunity to build that capacity, as well as those relationships between communities and with Indiana University,” she said. “We really see this as a spring point for communities to think about how they can attract visitors for other types of events.”
And while it might not seem like a lot at first glance, for many the grant money is fundamental to ensuring events like these can take place.
“For our event, the $2,000 micro grant has pretty much made us have no limits with what we want to do,” said Rutledge from Shoals.
In fact, the micro grants represent some of the only available additional funding for these groups and towns. The state office of Community and Rural affairs (OCRA) offered information and planning tools, but no additional money.
One of the pieces of technical support provided is information from the town of Sweetwater, Tenn., where a total eclipse was celebrated in 2017.
Duke Bennett, executive director of OCRA, is hoping to learn from that town’s experiences in dealing with a large influx of visitors.
“You don't really know what to expect, you just kind of plan for a bunch of people to be there,” he said. “And that was one of the things that we heard was just kind of traffic issues, you know, hotel, camping space in their case.”
Bennett, the former mayor of Terre Haute, said the importance that communities capitalizing on the totality event cannot be overstated.
“You can't create an event that's going to draw this many people. I mean, it just doesn't happen,” he said. “It's very rare. And so everybody can participate. This gives them an opportunity to be able to bring some money back into the community and showcase themselves.”
