“I am from Amarillo Texas,” said Trudy Strain.
“Missoula Montana,” said Greg Lovellette.
“Albuquerque, New Mexico,” said Linney Wix.
“We’re from San Diego,” said the Johnsons.
Downtown Gatesville is your typical small Texas town, but the solar eclipse is bringing large crowds to a little community.
“I teach 5th grade science in Amarillo and I’m interested in seeing it go completely dark and documenting it for my students,” said Trudy Strain.
“Obviously the eclipse but we’re turning it into a vacation incase we get clouded out,” said Greg Lovellette.
Visitors shared with me why Gatesville was there ideal destination.
“We looked at all the towns on the path of totality. We picked Gatesville so we could come camping and join in the festival too,” said the Johnsons.
“ We just like the small town feel so I got on google maps and looked at the route of where it was gonna go and Gatesville looked like a little town,” said Lovellette.
After more than a year of planning organizers tell me they’re happy to see some unfamiliar faces.
“So to have an event like this and bring people who normally would have found us is really special and we’re just having a great time,” said eclipse event planner Cheri Shepard.
“It’s such a small town with a lot of charm here and we’re just hoping that they’re feeling that warm welcome…that big Texas welcome that we have to give here,” said eclipse event planner Sara Jo Poynter.
