Employees of Huston Electric’s Franklin office pick up trash Tuesday at Blue Heron Park in Franklin.
Noah Crenshaw | Daily Journal
One day after the celestial event of the decade, clean-up and reflections were ongoing across Johnson County.
In Franklin, volunteers were going from park to park to clean up waste left behind by eclipse viewers. Volunteers from Houston Electric’s Franklin office went to Scott Park to clean up trash but found the park was already pretty clean. They also were there to do electrical work on lights for the Franklin Little League.
They also went to Blue Heron Park where they met volunteers from Wessler Engineering who were doing the same work.
At Youngs Creek Park, Tuesday morning the scene was vastly different from the eclipse festival the day before. Gone were the vendors, food trucks and hundreds who came to park to watch the total solar eclipse. Instead, the park was quiet and trash was cleaned up.
There was “excellent” clean-up work all weekend for Franklin’s events, said Chip Orner, parks and recreation director. For all of the events Orner has seen over the years, this is one of the easiest they’ve had to clean up after, he said.
“We had great people working for us — the street department, everybody worked together,” Orner said. “It was cleaned up every night, and we did a little bit this morning and are done now.”
With clean-up wrapping up officials were also working to find out just how successful their events were for the eclipse.
Throughout eclipse weekend, tourists from across North America stopped by Festival Country Indiana. At their downtown Franklin visitors center, they served 2,280 people from 28 states and seven countries from Saturday through Monday, said Ken Kosky, executive director.
“To put that in perspective, that would normally take about five-and-a-half months to serve that many people,” Kosky said.
Kosky expected Monday to bring thousands of people. Final numbers will not be available until next week, but he believes eclipse weekend was a success, he said.
“My favorite thing was that everybody who came seemed to have a wonderful time,” he said. “There were smiles on their faces, they gave us positive comments and said they plan to come back again. A few people even said that this is somewhere they could see themselves moving to. When you achieve something like that, that’s definitely a success.”
Because of overcrowding concerns — and using knowledge gained from what happened in communities in the path of totality during the 2017 eclipse — Festival Country “purposely” enlisted every church, school or attraction that was interested in having an event to do so and gave them free eclipse glasses, Kosky said.
“We purposely spread people out throughout 50 sites in all of Johnson County, so that no one area would experience traffic jams or overcrowding. It really worked,” he said.
Franklin’s eclipse festival was better than what Orner expected, as their event wasn’t overcrowded.
“One of our intentions was [for] people who would come in from out of town to have something to do, so that worked out Saturday, Sunday and Monday,” Orner said.
In terms of revenue and costs for the event, numbers were still being complied Tuesday morning. A full accounting is expected by the end of the week, he said.
Greenwood, like other communities, ramped up planning and operations for their eclipse event on Sunday. But attendance was lower than expected, and they had approximately 1,000 people attend their Sunday event, said Jen Winget, assistant director of the city’s parks and recreation department.
Everyone still had a great time, Winget said. Winds speeds that day prevented the city from having their planned hot air balloon glow and tethered balloon rides elements, which will not be rescheduled but refunds will be given out, she said.
“Weather as well as saturation of other events may have played a factor in attendance, but we still consider the event a success,” Winget said.
The parks department budgeted their event as part of their annual special events budget. The total cost was about $24,000, and officials were able to recover nearly 40% of the cost throughout the weekend and Monday through “various revenue streams,” she said.
In Edinburgh, the town’s eclipse festival was also a success, said SaraBeth Drybread, community development director for Edinburgh.
Guests had come to Edinburgh from all over the country; Drybread spoke with people at the community center who had come from Alabama, Massachusetts, Vermont and beyond.
One couple she spoke to had come from Miami, Florida. They had originally planned to catch the path of totality in Texas, but they changed their mind after hearing unfavorable weather reports. They were able to book a room in Edinburgh instead.
“To have so many people from the outside come to a small community like this, not only is there an economic benefit, but we’ve heard over and over again how nice everyone is here. It’s very validating that we still have that Hoosier hospitality,” Drybread said. “It’s been great to showcase our local businesses and our artisans. It’s just been a true celebration.”
Some people were surprised at how smoothly the eclipse and its event went, but from Kosky’s standpoint, it was the result of years of planning, he said.
“I think it’s always better to be over-prepared and have a great plan than to just kind of wing it,” Kosky said.
For example, in downtown Franklin, there were 20 food trucks because there were concerns about whether local restaurants could handle the number of visitors if higher-end attendance projections panned out. There were a large number of portable toilets for a similar reason, he said.
The extra preparations helped provide the good experience people were raving about, he said. Several sites have also received feedback from people saying thanks for providing a good experience, Kosky said.
Planning for Franklin’s eclipse festival was a “great experience,” Orner said. Not only was everyone in the city involved, it also helped various departments learn how to work together even better, he said.
“I can see our future concerts and events being even more organized than they were before — if that’s possible,” Orner said.
Planning for a once-in-a-lifetime event is always challenging, but planning for one that is outdoors in April in Indiana with unknown attendance is even more challenging, Winget said. Typically, Greenwood’s outdoor events are planned for times of year when they have more reliable weather than in the spring, however, the sun and moon determined the timing of their pre-eclipse event, she said.
“We are pleased that we didn’t go overboard with capital outlay for the solar eclipse, but glad that we were able to offer something enjoyable and worthwhile for our residents and visitors alike,” Winget said.
Kosky took a moment to also thank the businesses who stayed open Monday despite concerns about it possibly being hectic. He also appreciates everyone who offered visitors a good time, which he says will pay dividends in the long run.
“I’m thankful for all the businesses, the parks department folks and everybody else who teamed up to just do a great job,” Kosky said.
RECYCLE ECLIPSE GLASSES
Here’s a look at some places where eclipse glasses can be recycled in Johnson County.
Festival Country Indiana
Where: 66 S. Water St., Franklin. Black bin located inside visitors center near front door.
When: 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday. Closed Sunday and Monday.
Information: 317-739-8600
Johnson County Recycling District
What: Glasses in good condition will be donated to Astronomers Without Borders. Those that are not in good will have the cardboard recycled.
Where: Franklin Recycling Center, 900 Arvin Drive.
When: All April
Information: 317-738-2546
Daily Journal senior reporter Ryan Trares contributed to this report.
