Editor’s note: This is the first of two stories focusing on the eclipse and its impacts on Johnson County. Part 2 can be found here.
Everyone has an opinion on how the total solar eclipse went for Johnson County.
Some say the April 8 eclipse was over-hyped and officials over-prepared, while others were just happy to see the thousands of guests who did come have a great experience.
Data from Placer.ai reviewed by Festival Country reports a net gain of 100,000 visitors to Johnson County. For eclipse weekend there were 1.3 million visitors, versus a regular long weekend period with a baseline of 1.2 million. The data is based on cell phone usage in the area compared to the baseline but doesn’t count people who were simply passing through.
In downtown Franklin, Placer.ai data indicates an increase of about 20,400 on eclipse weekend, with a baseline of 12,100 and a turnout of 32,500. For the day of the eclipse, there were about 6,700 more visitors than on a typical Monday; about 9,100 visited, compared to the baseline of about 2,400, data shows.
At their downtown Franklin visitors center, Festival Country served 2,280 people from 28 states and seven countries during eclipse weekend, said Ken Kosky, executive director.
In Edinburgh, guests also came in from all over the country. SaraBeth Drybread, community development director for Edinburgh, said people from 31 zip codes around the country visited the community center.
Market factors
Kosky and event organizers prepared for the April 8 eclipse based on advice from community leaders who had experienced totality during the 2017 eclipse. They said there were traffic jams, overcrowding at events, restaurants and shops sold out, and that there were issues with trespassing.
There are key differences between the 2017 eclipse and the eclipse on April 8 that explain why Johnson County and Indiana did not see the same results.
The much wider path of totality for the April 8 eclipse meant that viewers had many more options than in 2017. Indiana was just one state in the path and Johnson County was far from the only county with a long period of totality. Kosky said this put the free market into play much more than it had been in 2017.
Weather was also a factor. The 2017 eclipse occurred in August, which has more stable weather typically. Whereas this past eclipse occurred in April — a month with particularly unpredictable weather — leading many people to decide last minute where to go.
Most people the Daily Journal spoke to on the day of the eclipse said they didn’t plan to come to Franklin, but the predicted clear skies drew them there. Kosky witnessed the same thing when speaking to people at the visitor’s center, he said.
With events all around Central Indiana happening simultaneously, there was also competition for visitors on a larger scale.
“There were things happening in Indianapolis and the surrounding counties; everybody along the eclipse line had events,” Kosky said. “We drew a lot of people, and they came to downtown Franklin, but they also went to parking lots, stores, churches, Taxman, Mallow Run. There was competition in the county and in and outside the county.”
Around the county alone, there were about 50 places to park and things to do.
“Let’s compare it to the Firecracker Festival. That is the one thing that was happening [on one day]. So if you want to celebrate, you go to that one site. Whereas for this event, you could go to dozens of sites,” Kosky said.
Some agencies, churches and schools saw few people park in their lots and events had unused capacity. Kosky said that isn’t necessarily a bad thing because it means the worst didn’t happen.
“Visitors could have all come here. None of them could have come here. It’s their decision where they want to go,” Kosky said. “I would rather be prepared to handle an influx and then still have capacity left at the end of the festival day than to limit the capacity and have an overflow that causes problems.”
Large events
Turnout for pre-eclipse events at Franklin and Greenwood parks were lower than expected, though eclipse day was much stronger.
Franklin Parks and Recreation Director Chip Orner called turnout for the Franklin Eclipse Festival on April 8 “the right amount,” as the event wasn’t overcrowded. The turnout was comparable to a mid-sized festival with largely tourists turning out. Whereas the festival would have been overcrowded if the normal local crowd had also attended.
Both events met the objectives the parks department set out. For the pre-events, Orner was aiming for tourists to have something to do. On eclipse day, the goal was to offer food and a concert following totality to keep people from leaving immediately and creating a traffic jam, he said.
Saturday and Sunday events saw lower turnout than he was expecting. This is likely because most people coming to Franklin didn’t make the eclipse a full weekend event. Monday’s event saw a huge turnout of day-tripper eclipse viewers, Orner said.
Event turnout for Franklin is much better than the public assumes based on drone footage that was filmed during off-peak times during the weekend events, Orner said.
“At 10 o’clock in the morning Saturday, there were 100 people down there … But if you took drone footage at two o’clock on Monday, or you took it at six o’clock on Saturday, there were 3,000 plus people down there,” Orner said. “Other places I can’t speak about what happened, but all of our parks were full. If we’re trying to gauge what this thing looked like just from the amphitheater I think we’re missing the point. This is a city-wide, a region-wide event.”
In Edinburgh, Drybread estimates about 1,000 people turned out to the downtown event while others watched in town parks, the Indiana Premium Outlets parking lot and other places.
Greenwood did not have an eclipse day event, but the Sunday event drew only about 1,000 people, parks department officials previously said. The event turnout was thrown off by the cancellation of hot air balloons, high wind and rain, they said.
Franklin’s Sunday event was damped by the weather and the lack of expected hot air balloons. At least for Franklin, there will be another chance to go up in a hot air balloon. The parks department has rescheduled the balloons for the Cruisin’ the Amp event on June 7, Orner said.
Smaller events
Turnout at the smaller events around the county was a mixed bag.
Kim Livorno, Jerry Navarro and several business partners put on an event at the Johnson County Fairgrounds called Solar Jam. Livorno thought the event was reasonably priced, as people could park for $25, with an option to pay an additional amount for access to a concert. With a concert from the Southern Accents, vendors and food trucks, the event had the making to be appealing to an audience who wanted to make a day of it, Livorno said.
Organizers hoped for a much larger turnout, but only about 200 came. With such a small turnout, everyone who invested money together lost thousands of dollars. Livorno still has totes and totes of unsold merchandise piled in her garage. She has been trying to make some money back by selling Solar Jam merchandise on Facebook Marketplace, she said.
Kosky surveyed other small events and some had better results. Taxman Brewing Co. and Mallow Run Winery both reported seeing several hundred people at their events, while Kelsay Farms sold all 300 viewing spots that were made available on their Whiteland farm, he said.
At Taxman, the brewery sold out of the two special beers that were brewed for the event within a few hours, said Cassidy Hummell, director of marketing and communications. About 500 people turned out to watch the eclipse and use telescopes that NASA brought to the brewery for the event, she said.
The Historic Artcraft Theatre held a space-themed film festival and offered tours during eclipse weekend. According to data gathered by Kosky, the theatre sold 820 tickets to shows and held 200 unticketed tours throughout the three-day weekend.
Allure of parking lots
However, many people were not interested in events and just opted to watch in a parking lot where they could find a spot — parks, interstate rest stops, hotel parking lots, big box store and mall parking lots— in an open space with a clear view of the sky. Parks in Franklin, Greenwood and Edinburgh were popular spots, officials said.
“We had people who parked downtown and walked into our visitor center and then said, ‘Okay, do you think I should go up to Walmart or Lowe’s and watch it there?’” Kosky said. “And I said, ‘You found a parking space, there’s food trucks, there’s stores. Why would you not stay here?’ And they said, ‘Oh, I just heard that parking lots were good, open places to watch it. So, I think there were a lot of people who just went to parking lots.”
Drybread heard from an Edinburgh Starbucks employee that many people parked there, at nearby restaurants or the outlet mall and came in for a coffee before heading back home. They seemed to just want a place to watch the celestial and get back home quickly.
“She said it was just amazing to see how many people were just posted up in the parking lot in lawn chairs to experience the eclipse,” Drybread said.
Parking fundraisers
Many of the 50 events on Festival Country’s list advertised to tourists were places to park. Churches, businesses and other places with large parking lots either asked for a fee or a free-will donation to use their lot. A number of places offering parking did not see a high amount of money raised, though anything was better than nothing.
One of those places with a set price was Gateway Services in Franklin. The nonprofit charged $50 per spot and offered use of their bathrooms and free water. Four spots were sold for a total of $200 going toward the organization’s fundraising for Dancing with the Johnson County Stars, said Becky Allen, Access Johnson County transportation director. Though the organization didn’t raise a lot of money, everyone there still had fun watching the eclipse, she said.
Two local high schools also offered paid parking. At Indian Creek, five spots were sold, raising $250 to support the high school, said Kate Taylor, school spokesperson. Franklin did a bit better; around 100 spots were sold and about $5,000 was raised to relieve school program travel costs for students, said Bill Doty, athletic director.
Free-will donation parking seemed to fare better for those trying to raise money. For example, a larger crowd gathered at the church next to Gateway Services which offered parking for an unset amount, Allen said. When the eclipse totality began, those gathered at Gateway services could hear “oohs and ahs” from the crowd gathered at the church.
Post-eclipse business reports mixed as Johnson County locals stayed home
