After a long tease from Mother Nature during the morning, Dallas got the show it was hoping for as the clouds broke long enough for an uninterrupted view of Monday's total solar eclipse.
As roughly four minutes of darkness fell, street lights popped on and crowds lining Main Street broke out in awed grins.
It might've have been much worse for the thousands who flocked to Dallas for the rare celestial event. Dallas isn't due for another period in the path of totality until 2317.
At 7:30 a.m. in Dallas on Monday, things were looking up for those hoping to get a better view of the total solar eclipse than what had been regularly forecast by meteorologists for the past week. Heading south on Interstate Highway 35 past the medical district toward downtown, the sun, blocked only by a few hazy strips of gauze-like clouds, blazed with the type of might that seemed as though it would fight off the dreariness heading this way.
But by 9 a.m., the sun’s golden blaze had been overwhelmed by those pesky high clouds we had been warned about. Under gray skies, however, you had to look hard to find any dimmed excitement for the solar showcase. And to a decent extent, that optimism paid off. Downtown, over Main Street Garden Park, the sun was more than a little visible at 12:23 p.m. as the partial eclipse began.
Even hours before Dallas would see the eclipse go full, people in lawn chairs with telescopes and camera equipment were set up in the grassy areas of Dealey Plaza. Nearby, on the sidewalk in front of the Sixth Floor Museum, a vendor sat behind a table piled with eclipse-themed T-shirts. Near Turtle Creek and Cedar Springs a bit later, a vendor selling eclipse glasses strolled along the sidewalk, and a healthy smattering of spectators had gathered on a hill at Griggs Park. The recently spruced-up Main Street Garden park also played host to many eclipse chasers, including a good number of out-of-towners.
Last week, reports said that city officials expected as many as 400,000 visitors to arrive in Dallas for Monday’s big event. Some road closures for downtown were announced, which brought about warnings to allow for extra time on the roads. At noon, the area roads were relatively clear, with only the typical traffic hotspots around downtown showing any signs of congestion.
Travelers began reading that they should expect travel delays at airports and rental car counters that were all booked up. At Love Field around 9:30 a.m., just three hours before the partial eclipse hit the Dallas sky, it didn’t seem that much busier than a normal day. But that perception shifted slightly when you noticed that many groups of travelers arriving had on some sort of eclipse themed t-shirts and that the Avis and Budget rental car counters had a line of about 50 people.
One couple in line for a rental car on Monday morning, William and Shari Rowley, arrived from Orlando, Florida. Although they were excited for the eclipse – each wore an eclipse-themed shirt – things were looking a bit shaky for the couple. Not only had they seen the clouds over the airport when they landed, but they had been told their tickets to the Dallas Arboretum’s eclipse event were no longer valid after the arboretum had apparently sold too many tickets. The Rowley’s were also without a rental car reservation.
But this wasn’t the couple’s first eclipse chase, and neither seemed to be concerned that the day wasn't off to the start they had hoped for.
“We’ll see how it goes today,” Shari said with a smile. “Besides, this is better than sitting at home doing nothing.”
“I like to believe that it’s a good omen." – Tina, eclipse watcher at Main Street Garden Park
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Suzanne Bertram and Maggie Scott were just in front of the Rowleys in the Avis line. They, too, were here for the eclipse, but had arrived to a much different scenario. The duo from Colorado had gotten advice back in January that Texas would be the place to catch this eclipse. After researching other Texas sites, they chose Dallas so they could also take in some museums and experience a new city afterward. But unlike the Rowleys, their tickets to the arboretum’s event were valid, and they had a car waiting for them.
At 11:30 a.m. and again around 11:50 a.m. the crowd in Main Street Garden Park cheered when the sun peeked through the clouds for a welcome appearance. “I see things as signs from God,” said Tina, who traveled from Houston for a view of the eclipse in path of totality. “I like to believe that it’s a good omen. The last eclipse, we had Hurricane Katrina. I was a little worried about that. But this is full circle… My father sent me to send some prayers for the family.”
But the weather and the environment in Texas is nothing if not unpredictable in the spring at least. The Texas Eclipse Festival in Burnet, smack in the middle of the Texas Hill Country, canceled its Monday events because of storms and possible tornado conditions hitting the area, although it was one of the largest-scale eclipse-related events in the state.
Similar to the unexpected relative calm we witnessed at Love Field, it seems that Fredericksburg experienced a lower than expected turnout. The Hill Country tourism haven had been predicted to be one of the busiest eclipse destinations in the state, but on Sunday, some local merchants made the claim that the weekend felt like a normal weekend for them, according to KXAN Austin.
Also in Main Street Garden were twins Alex and Ariel from Los Angeles. Dressed in sun- and moon-inspired outfits, they explained why this event was significant enough to travel all this way.
“It’s a chaotic time in the universe, right? It’s nice for everybody to come together for something beautiful,” Alex said. His sister Ariel added: “It’s just science and nature and you can’t deny that. Like, everyone can agree that it’s the sun and it’s amazing.”
Just past 1 p.m. a clear view of the partial eclipse could be seen from the downtown park, a few minutes before clouds got in the way again. And at 1:41 p..m, the sky went dramatically dark for around 4 minutes while the moon finally blocked the sun from our view here on Earth.
Grace, a high school senior from Colorado, is here with friends for a sort of senior road trip. Perhaps better than anyone else, she summed up the appeal of the total solar eclipse in Dallas on a day that ended up being just suny and clear enough for everyone to see what they came for.
“I’m a giant Astro-nerd,” she said, “and I really wanted a chance to see it.”
More Eclipse Photos from Main Street Garden Park Downtown
A view of the eclipse of the Statler Hotel during Downtown Dallas Inc.'s party at Main Street Garden.
Mike Brooks
The important thing to note here is the sunlight, which seemed a little iffy for most of the morning.
Carly May Gravley
