Solar party eclipses other events in Polson
People from around the area sat and watched the eclipse in Polson Monday (above) morning as the North Lake County Public Library hosted a block party for the event. (Ashley Fox/Lake County Leader) Temperatures dropped Monday morning as the eclipse maxed out at nearly 90 percent in Polson. (Jeremy Weber/Lake County Leader)
Duane Smith, left, of Polson, uses his father’s welding helmet from the 1950s during the eclipse Monday. He attended a watch party at the library for the out-of-this-world event with his son, Hudson.
Dennis Johnson, left, stands with Joan Black as they get their special glasses for Monday’s solar eclipse at the library in Polson.
Laura Polen, of Orange County, California, was passing through the area visiting family in Missoula Monday in search of a good spot to watch the eclipse. Using Youtube.com, Polen fashioned her own pin hole contraption to safely follow the eclipse.
Pictured left to right are Owen Godfrey, 5, Quinn Godfrey, 3, and Olivia Johnson, 3, all of Polson. The kids posed for a photo outside of the library in Polson Monday during the solar eclipse.
Staff at the North Lake County Library District estimated that “at least” 1,000 people showed up Monday for the solar eclipse.
“It was a huge success,” Abbi Dooley, assistant director of the library, said.
“It was certainly more people than we ever dreamed.”
Organizers originally only anticipated about 500 people, Dooley said.
Among those who attended were Dennis Johnson and Joan Black, “part time residents” of Polson.
“I think we’re paying more attention (to the eclipse) because it’s crossing the entire continent,” Black said. She used an “eclipse app” on her smartphone to track which towns saw the eclipse at which times.
Johnson said that the couple have friends who travelled to Oregon “to really see” the solar event “100 percent.”
“It’s really created a buzz, clearly, across the country,” he added.
The eclipse caused a buzz in Polson, as Dooley said that 1,285 eclipse glasses were handed out in the weeks leading up to Monday, as well as on the day of the actual eclipse.
“We had set aside 400 to give out ahead of time. When the buzz started getting around town, we had to restock,” she said.
Standing in the crowd, periodically checking the celestial showdown, was Duane Smith of Polson.
“I actually saw” a little of the eclipse in 1979, he recalled.
Smith stood holding his father’s welding helmet from the 1950s,
“This was a backup,” he said, holding the helmet.
Smith said that when he and his son, Hudson, got to the library, the glasses were already gone, so the duo used the helmet to watch the eclipse.
“I just think it’s neat it’s almost 90 percent here and you don’t have to go anywhere else,” he said.
While adults sat on folding chairs or stood in groups, children were able to interact at a NASA booth with a thermal gun to test the temperature, Dooley said, as well as a UV light detector. There was also a kid’s craft area where they could make eclipse viewers out of cereal boxes.
A green screen was set up so that library personnel could take photos of people “on the moon.”
The library received a grant from NASA, Dooley said, which helped fund the activities.
There was a lunch for $5 that people could purchase, and proceeds will benefit the family summer reading program, Dooley said. There were 130 lunches available, which were prepared by North Lake County Library Foundation board members.
“It was an opportunity for the community to come together to whitness a once-in-a-lifetime event,” Dooley said.