John Percy has been involved in Niagara Falls tourism for 25 years and he can’t think of a more monumental event that’s happened in the city than Monday’s total solar eclipse.
Though clouds covered the eclipse during the nearly four minutes of totality, viewers got to see the sliver of sun almost totally blocked by the moon right before and after totality.
Daredevil Nik Wallenda’s walk over the falls on a tightrope in 2012 is close, the president and CEO of Destination Niagara USA said, but for Percy, it will be hard to beat the eclipse.
“There’s very few (events) that are at this monumental level,” Percy said. “When you marry an iconic wonder with this celestial event, it was a win-win for all of us.”
Months of preparation and coordination went into welcoming tens of thousands of tourists to the city and state park, many for their first visit. And on the whole, the weekend went off without a hitch.
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“It was never going to be a question of: Can we handle it?” said Angela Berti, public affairs director for New York State Parks. “It was how do we best handle it?”
There were no unforeseen issues or events over the weekend that first responders were not ready for, said Niagara County Director of Emergency Services Jonathan Schultz.
“I think we overestimated for things,” Berti said. “It’s always better to be overprepared than underprepared.”
For example, officials across Western New York had been warning residents for weeks leading up to the eclipse about the potential for traffic jams.
That worry never materialized.
Even at Niagara Falls State Park, where there were an estimated 45,000 people on Monday, according to Berti, visitors gradually arrived throughout the day.
Berti said the crowd on Monday was comparable to crowds on a Memorial Day weekend in Niagara Falls, but far bigger than on a typical April day.
While tourism officials are still waiting on an official calculation of the economic impact of the weekend, Percy said eclipse weekend will probably be Niagara Falls’ “best April weekend on record for eternity.”
Retail sales at the Destination Niagara USA visitors center were record-breaking over the weekend, Percy said.
“That would never happen this early April. Ever,” Percy said. “So if that’s one small indicator, then it was a resounding success.”
Vendors on Old Falls Street, a three-block cobblestone street that connects Niagara Falls State Park with the Niagara Falls Convention Center and most downtown hotels and attractions, were “over the moon” with the consistent business that took place throughout the weekend, Percy said.
It seems visitors heeded officials’ advice of “come early, stay late,” as Sunday ended up being the busiest day for local businesses.
The weekend was a positive start to the 2024 summer tourism season in Niagara Falls, especially for the Maid of the Mist.
The tour boat company had one of its best opening weekends in recent history, said John Sicinski, executive vice president.
Thanks to a mild winter with little ice on Lake Erie, the Maid of the Mist was able to open Thursday, just in time to welcome eclipse visitors.
“To have this jump-start of a solar eclipse to really have a nice draw to bring people in and see the park on opening weekend is awesome,” Sicinski said. “It was great.”
Sicinski said the number of passengers who rode on the boats this weekend was comparable to the number of visitors during a nice summer weekend in late May or early June.
“It was definitely a tick above what we would normally expect in early April,” he said.
The company’s goal for the weekend was to provide tourists with a memorable experience so they want to come back and encourage people they know to visit.
Tourism officials credited the months of planning and collaboration that went into eclipse weekend as the reason things went so smoothly.
Schultz said Niagara County Emergency Services started planning 14 months in advance, while New York State Parks has been making arrangements for almost two years, according to Berti.
“What I’m most proud of today is the collaboration between state parks, the City of Niagara Falls, our agency and many other agencies that really worked hard in preparation for this,” Percy said. “The day did go without a hitch, it went flawlessly because I think we were truly prepared, overprepared for those possible unforeseen incidents.”