Community members gather to watch partial solar eclipse

Monday’s solar eclipse cast a shadow of totality across the country, Hopkinsville may have not been in the path of the total eclipse, but members of the community came together to watch the partial eclipse at the Hopkinsville-Christian County Convention and Visitor’s Bureau.

In Kentucky, the path of totality just barely passed through the western portion of state going through communities in Paducah, Morganfield and Marion. With the path of totality being fairly close to Hopkinsville, spectators witnessed around 95% sun coverage which dimmed the sky.

Monday’s watch event was hosted in collaboration with Visit Hopkinsville, Hopkinsville Parks and Recreation and the Museums of Historic Hopkinsville-Christian County. Members of the community brought their lawn chairs and picnic blankets to watch the eclipse and Visit Hopkinsville Executive Director, Amy Rogers says the morning clouds worried her, but she was happy to see the sky mostly clear by noon.

Rogers says they decided to host an eclipse watch event for those who wanted to spectate the rare event but wanted to avoid the traffic and crowds at areas in the path of totality. Rogers says she wanted spectators to be able to relax and grab a bite to eat while viewing the eclipse.

However, Hopkinsville citizens are no stranger to a total eclipse, in 2017 Hopkinsville was a location in the middle of the path of totality.

In comparison to the 2017 total eclipse, Rogers says Monday’s watch event was not as grand, but it was still important to her and she was happy to see members of the community come to watch the eclipse.

In Hopkinsville the solar eclipse started at around 1 p.m. and was at its greatest coverage at around 2 p.m. and concluded after 3 p.m.