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Spencer, Indiana overall pleased with eclipse turnout

By Clayton Baumgarth

Posted April 10, 2024

Though visitor numbers didn't quite reach the levels that their Apple Butter Festival parade usually hits, town officials are happy with Monday's eclipse turnout. (Mitch Legan, WFIU/WTIU News)

On eclipse day, tourists spread throughout the state, from Vincennes to Richmond. Even smaller towns like Spencer, which first began planning for the eclipse in August, saw folks come from as far away as California.

Emergency services prepared for the worst-case scenario; possibly tens of thousands of people visiting to see the celestial event, bringing with them hours of gridlocked traffic and hindering emergency response vehicles.

But according to Jon Stantz, Spencer town council member, the day turned out to be incredibly mild compared to those predictions.

“We didn't know what was gonna happen, for sure,” he said. “We were hoping to have, like we do on Apple Butter Festival parade day, an 8,000 or 10,000 people influx, but that didn't happen. All in all, I think the day went well here.”

Stantz estimated between 1,000 and 1,500 people visited Spencer for the eclipse. Town council members said that they’re still pleased with the turnout, even if it didn’t meet expectations.

Now that they’ve made plans for handling an influx of people, they feel better prepared for anything in the future.

“All those plans have been made with the emergency services, so now we can keep that and just pull that out of the drawer and use it again at some point,” he said. “We'll use part of that traffic control for graduation, that's always a big day here.”

Jonathan Balash, president of the Spencer Pride group, said he saw new faces in their community center as early as Friday.

“Our overall kind of visitation at the center was about three to four times what it normally would be for that time period,” he said. “So, I mean, it was a substantial difference in terms of our engagement with the public, which is exactly what we're here for.”

Spencer Pride was one of 30 groups selected to receive a $2,000 micro-grant from IU’s Center for Rural Engagement to host eclipse-related activities.

Balash said even with the smaller turnout, Spencer Pride was still able to achieve its goal of sharing the community with as many people as possible.

“What I wanted to have happen was to be able to interact with people who weren't familiar with Spencer Pride, or Spencer, Indiana, previously, and who I could maybe welcome into our group of supporters, allies,” he said. “So, absolutely, we accomplished that [Monday].”

In fact, Balash said that after Monday, Spencer Pride received unexpected donations from those who visited its community center. He said, “the fruits of this amazing experience together are just going to continue to blossom over the next months and years.”

So, while it wasn’t the blowout some may have hoped, the people of Spencer seem pleased with how they capitalized on the eclipse.