Niagara Falls braces for record crowds hoping to take in solar eclipse’s path of totality

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It’s called a totality: the period when the sun’s light is completely blocked by the moon in a solar eclipse. And Niagara Falls, Ont., will be smack-dab in the middle of the phenomenon’s shadowy path as it streaks across a strip of North America on April 8.

The city is bracing itself for the equivalent of Woodstock, the Super Bowl and New Year’s Eve rolled into one – an unprecedented weekend-long stargazing party that the city’s mayor says could attract up to a million onlookers, smashing all previous attendance records in a place that is already one of the top tourist destinations in the world.

The path of totality crosses directly over Niagara Falls, where astronomers predict the sky will darken for more than 3½ minutes, starting at 3:20 p.m., with a partial eclipse starting at 2:04 p.m. Hamilton will also briefly be plunged into darkness. So will Kingston, where tourism officials expect 30,000 visitors, and parts of Montreal and Atlantic Canada.

Outside the path of totality, anyone gazing at the sky will not be in the moon’s direct shadow. They will see only a partial eclipse, which will temporarily dim the sun but won’t turn day into night. This will be the case in Toronto, Ottawa and other Canadian cities.

For many, only a full eclipse will suffice. Some major hotels in Niagara Falls are sold out, and others are close to it. Prices, driven by eclipse-mania, have soared in recent weeks for both hotel accommodation and short-term rentals on websites such as Airbnb. What would have been a slow off-season weekend has turned into a long weekend for many families, because some Ontario school boards have decided to close for the day of the eclipse.

And a clear day that offers an unobstructed view could bring in thousands more spontaneous eclipse watchers. Niagara Falls, perched on the U.S. border, is within just a day’s drive of half of North America’s population, and the number of visitors surges even on normal days with good weather.

“You’ve got one of the great natural wonders of the world, Canada’s number-one leisure destination, and you’ve got a celestial phenomenon going on, a complete total solar eclipse in the same place,” Niagara Falls Mayor Jim Diodati said in an interview. “And I go, there’s something magical, mystical, whatever you want to say.”

In addition to magical and mystical, the event is also a potential logistical nightmare. The previous record for the number of visitors to Niagara Falls at one time was set in 2015, when between 100,000 and 150,000 people came to watch American daredevil acrobat Nik Wallenda totter across the raging waters on a tightrope. And as many as 100,000 show up for concerts and fireworks on New Year’s Eve, the mayor said, causing an epic annual traffic jam after the show ends.

Mr. Diodati said it was while he was talking to a U.S. documentary film crew that had covered the rush to witness previous eclipses – the makers of Totality: The American Eclipse – that he became convinced his city needed to be prepared for eight to nine times any previous record crowd. He and the city’s tourism industry are also quick to point to another factor: National Geographic named Niagara Falls the top spot to see the eclipse, and put the city at number 11 on its 2024 list of top travel experiences – right behind hiking alongside a Panamanian volcano and diving with sharks off the Australian coast. (A horseback safari in Kenya was ranked number one.)

Mr. Diodati’s advice is to be prepared for traffic jams, restaurants with lineups out the door and road closings. He recommended bringing food, water, any needed medication and lots of patience.

Emergency services have been meeting for more than a year, he said, to plan for the worst. The province’s GO Transit rail and bus system is scheduling extra trains and buses in and out of Niagara Falls.

Helicopters, drones, a fleet of portable washrooms, shuttle buses, extra police, paramedics and bylaw officers are all part of the city’s plans, the mayor said. So are temporary cellphone towers, an attempt to ensure that the mad dash to post eclipse selfies doesn’t crash the local communications system. Niagara Parkway, the road that snakes along the Niagara River to the falls, will be closed to vehicles for much of the day.

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Mr. Diodati’s personal plan for the day of the eclipse, he said, is to bike downtown with a backpack full of bottled water and cereal bars – and of course his protective ISO-certified eclipse glasses, which are expected to be in short supply, and are necessary for viewing the sun without suffering eye damage, except during the brief period of totality. Niagara Parks officials and some hotels will be handing them out, but the official advice is bring your own.

The over-the-moon pricing for accommodations has already forced some to change their plans. Among them is Toronto resident Sinoi Daniel Mathai, who as a child was not allowed to watch an eclipse as it passed over his hometown of Kottayam, India, in 1995. He said he doesn’t intend to miss this one. He and a group of friends had hoped to book a hotel in Niagara Falls.

“I thought it would be dramatic to see two natural wonders at once,” Mr. Mathai said.

But the eye-popping rates for rooms convinced Mr. Mathai and his friends to dial back their plans. Instead, they booked a $15 parking spot at the Heartland Forest, a privately run wilderness area just west of Niagara Falls that is holding an eclipse-viewing event. He plans to drive up in the morning and then drive back home after the eclipse – and take his chances with the traffic.

Niagara Falls officials have planned a variety of events over the weekend, both before and after the eclipse, partly to dissuade the mass of onlookers from rushing for their cars and creating what would be an unprecedented traffic jam as soon as the celestial show is over.

There will be speakers from the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the Canadian Space Agency, and science activities for children at various Niagara Parks sites. Guinness Book of World Records officials will be on hand to judge whether an attempt to assemble the largest number of people ever gathered together in identical, custom-made nylon sun costumes succeeds.

The Niagara Symphony Orchestra will perform as the sky approaches darkness. Later, Kingston rock band The Glorious Sons – like “suns,” get it? – will take the stage, among other performers. Mr. Diodati said he had hoped for Bonnie Tyler, the Welsh-born singer who topped the pop charts in 1983 with Total Eclipse of the Heart, but she was unavailable.

All of this is expected to provide a much-needed boost for the region’s tourism industry, which is still suffering the aftereffects of the pandemic. While domestic visits have returned to 2019 levels, fewer tourists from the U.S. and overseas have been coming to the Falls.

“We are recovering, but not recovered,” said David Adames, chief executive officer of the Niagara Parks Commission. “I think it will be record attendance for the destination. It’s a unique opportunity. … The momentum is building for it.”

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