GATESVILLE, Texas — "We’re excited to see people coming into town, we’re excited for what it might do for us, and to see some new faces,” said owner of Studebakers Pizza, Gerald Pelkey.
“We are really excited — I mean, we’re going to be having a party here that day,” said Marketing Director at 1854 Mercantile Susie Meelbusch.
It's the event that everyone’s been waiting for, and it's officially less than forty days away.
The solar eclipse is taking place on April 8, and Central Texas is one of the best spots to be.
25 News' Madison Myers spent the day in Gatesville speaking to local business owners who are already gearing up for the big event.
“We just posted on our business Facebook page yesterday, and we have had the store full ever since — people are coming in every hour on the hour and we’re right downtown, so we’re going to have a festival," Meelbusch said.
"We know people are going to be walking all over looking at shops."
Myers spoke with the manager at Texas Station and Event Center, who says people have been calling about this event for over a year now.
“I've got people coming from South Dakota, Washington, Chicago, Colorado, California, a lot of different states — about 115 people,” said Manager at Texas Station, Kaylie Mendez.
Texas Station will have live music and food for those staying at their park — they even built silo apartments just in time for the eclipse.
“We knew that the hotels and everything were getting booked up, and we had these in mind to build, but whenever we heard about the eclipse weekend we thought it would be the perfect time to get them finished and done,” Mendez said.
25 News spoke to Gatesville Police Chief Brad Hunt who tells me public safety is the city’s number one priority.
“One of the big things that we’re doing in the city of Gatesville is hiring some officers from other cities that are outside the pathway of totality to come in and ride with our officers and boost up our personnel,” Hunt said.
“Know that we have taken every precaution that we can that makes sense budget-wise for us to have a safe eclipse," Hunt said.
"To us, a safe eclipse is a successful eclipse."
