Avon Lake hosting solar eclipse watch party

For the past year, the city of Avon Lake has marketed itself as “Totality’s Best Seat.”

As the April 8 total solar eclipse inches closer, the city is finishing preparations to make sure that Avon Lake is truly the best seat in the house.

Erin Fach, director of parks and recreation for the city of Avon Lake, has researched towns that hosted past eclipse events since he took the position 18 months ago.

Specifically, Fach cited Hopkinsville, Ky., as a major inspiration for the host of events this spring in Avon Lake.

“Hopkinsville, Ky., is a city of approximately the same size we are,” he said. “It’s one of the cities that we really researched.

“We went there in person and met a few of the folks down there that experienced it. We really did try to replicate some of the things they did, in regard to the way they utilized the parks (and) the way they set up their registrations.”

Fach explained that eclipses can be a truly deep experience for people standing in the line of totality.

In meeting with eclipse enthusiasts over the past 18 months, he said that something about the calm and quiet can create a “spiritual experience” for some people.

“I understand it’s a very spiritual experience,” he said. “Again, it’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience, so people really want to try to get to experience it.

“There are those who have chased them around the country.”

Fach said his workload obviously has been unusually high since he took the job in Avon Lake.

With the population set to triple in size, he said the city is doing everything it can to sufficiently prepare Avon Lake for its moment in the darkened sun.

“I’ve been with the city just over a year and a half, and it’s something that I stepped into and started researching right when I came on board,” Fach said. “It’s like hosting every special event that we might host throughout the year all at one time.”

The main event of the city’s eclipse jubilee will be the watch party at Avon Lake Memorial Stadium, 175 Avon Belden Road.

The stadium is located a stone’s throw away from the exact center line of the eclipse, which will past directly over Avon Lake City Hall.

“We’re hoping to get a really nice crowd there,” Fach said of the watch party.

The city will have food trucks, live music and a number of vendors at the stadium watch party to create a truly festival-esque atmosphere, he said.

NASA also is likely to send representatives to the city-wide celebration, Fach said.

“We have teamed up with NASA; we hope to have somebody here from NASA that day,” he said.

Fach welcomed the Lorain County community to celebrate with the city April 8.

The city will have nearly four minutes of total darkness, longer than nearly any other place in the United States, he said.

“We’re really trying to showcase Avon Lake,” Fach said. “You can’t get much closer to the center line of totality, so it really is totality’s best seat.”

Tickets for the city’s solar eclipse watch party are $15 each until mid-February.

The tickets are available at avonlakesolareclipse.com.