Southern Illinois is about to have its moment in the sun — and out of it — Aug. 21.
That’s when a total solar eclipse will make its way over the U.S. mainland, coast to coast, for the first time in nearly a century.
Tens of thousands of people, including a small army of NASA scientists who will be broadcasting the cosmic spectacle from Carbondale, are expected to pour into a diagonal swath at the bottom tip of the state.
Astronomers, serious eclipse-chasers, regular Joes with FOMO — they’re all looking to snag a coveted spot in the “path of totality,” a 70-mile-wide sweet spot in which the moon will completely block the sun as the eclipse makes its cross-country trek from Oregon to South Carolina.
While the rest of the continental U.S. will have to make due with a partial eclipse, those in the path of totality will be treated to what promises to be an unforgettable natural wonder, provided the weather cooperates and the clouds stay away.
What can they expect? Well, that glowing ball of hot gas we call the sun will take on the appearance of a black hole surrounded by a pearly white wreath, the sun’s rarely visible corona.
Day becomes night. Temperatures drop. So do jaws. Jupiter, Venus, Mercury — maybe even Mars — come into view. Birds make a beeline for their nests. Cicadas, crickets and frogs pump up the volume.
Suffice to say, it will be quite a show. And the town where that show will play the longest is Makanda, a small village surrounded by the hills of Shawnee National Forest, 7 miles south of Carbondale.
“Right over Makanda, Ill., is where the eclipse will reach its maximum duration,” said Joe McFarland, an author, mushroom forager and de facto eclipse coordinator for the village.
“We have about 2 minutes and 41.6 seconds of totality over Makanda and nowhere else on Earth,” McFarland said. “That’s why we’re so special.”
Something else that makes this part of the country special, from an astronomy standpoint: Another total solar eclipse will swing by April 8, 2024. That one will make its way northeast from Mexico to Maine, hitting the Makanda area for the second time in seven years — a much shorter wait than the 375 or so years it takes, on average, for that to happen.
The difference between the length of darkness that people will experience in Makanda compared with its neighbors is small — a matter of seconds. But the bragging rights are big, as evidenced by the way some are playing up the distinction.
Even the Makanda post office has gotten in on the act, with a commemorative “peak eclipse duration” hand stamp ready to go as of Aug. 21.
Eclipse-related T-shirts, mugs, viewing glasses and other souvenirs are for sale at Eclipse Kitchen, 514 Makanda Road. The place is part cafe, part eclipse headquarters for this quirky town of 600, where the yellow smiley face water tower sports a bow tie in honor of late U.S. Sen. Paul Simon, a longtime resident laid to rest here.
A few doors down from Eclipse Kitchen on Makanda’s funky boardwalk, you’ll find Dave Dardis’ Rainmaker Studio. Dardis, a metalwork artist, painted a red line that starts on the street and continues right through his front door. The red strip follows what experts predict will be the center line in the path of totality. It leads straight into Dardis’ studio and gallery, where the ample inventory includes handmade solar pendants for $30.
“It’s going to be a big deal,” Dardis said about The Big Day, in a tone mixed with dread and excitement.
“I’ve got calls from lots of people wanting to be in my backyard for it,” he said. “Some want to be in the shop. … That last one doesn’t make much sense, if you think about it.”
Among the grapevines at Makanda’s Blue Sky Vineyard is a sign with an aerial view noting NASA’s nearby coordinates for the point of greatest duration — the longest period of darkness — during the eclipse.
The winery, like many in this grape-growing region, will start celebrating the weekend before that Monday’s eclipse, with live music, food and the like.
“We could have 2,000 people or 10,000,” vineyard co-owner Jim Ewers said. “We won’t really know until it happens.”
About 20 miles north in Carterville, Walker’s Bluff vineyard is the venue for Moonstock 2017, a four-day music festival featuring Ozzy Osbourne. As soon as the lunar shadow lands, the heavy metal rocker is slated to sing — wait for it — “Bark at the Moon.”
Revelers at Blue Sky will be able to toast the occasion with the vineyard’s special-label Eclipse wine, a blend of chambourcin and Norton grapes. The winery produced 100 cases of the dry red, priced at $25 a bottle.
“It should cellar well,” Ewers said. “You could buy some now, age it and open it up for the next eclipse.”
With its expansive grounds and spacious tasting room, Blue Sky can accommodate a lot of people. Whether the same can be said of the region’s narrow country roads remains to be seen. Traffic jams aren’t typical in this bucolic neck of the woods, but neither is a total solar eclipse.
“I wouldn’t plan on leaving Chicago that morning,” Illinois Conservation Police officer Chris Mohrman said. “The smart thing would be to get here early, that Friday, and scout it out, get to know the area.”
That is, if you can find a place to stay.
Blue Sky’s two bed-and-breakfast suites sold out months ago — at a premium. The vineyard is making space available for 22 self-contained RV campers for $100 a night, three-night minimum. Reservations were still being taken as of this writing.
Many hotels, cabins and campgrounds in the region are already full or close to it, although plenty of spots for tent and RV camping are still available at the state-run World Shooting and Recreational Complex near Sparta, roughly an hour’s drive from both St. Louis and Carbondale.
When it comes to lodging near the eclipse’s point of greatest duration, it’s tough to beat Rocky Comfort Cabins, within walking distance of Blue Sky Vineyard.
Rocky Comfort’s pair of well-appointed, “Hobbit”-style cabins will be available to book starting June 13 for an eclipse package, Aug. 18-21. The four-night package is priced at $3,600 based on double occupancy, with 20 percent of that going to two local charities. (Call 618-967-7236 or email rcbliss@rockycomfortcabins.com.)
One place that won’t run out of room — or charge premium prices — is Shawnee National Forest. With few exceptions, people are welcome to pitch a tent within the forest’s 286,000 acres for primitive camping (read: no services, you’re on your own), free of charge.
In Carbondale, space for indoor camping is being offered at Southern Illinois University’s Student Recreation Center, within walking distance of the Amtrak train station. SIU also is allowing visitors to rent rooms at its soon-to-be-history Schneider Hall, a dormitory scheduled for demolition in a few months.
“A lot of alums are calling to request their old dorm rooms,” said Carbondale Tourism Director Cinnamon Wheeles-Smith. (Check out carbondaleeclipse.com for an updated list of lodging options. Other helpful sites include southernmostillinois.com and makandaeclipse2017.com.)
The college town is bracing for 50,000 visitors and plans to entertain them with outdoor concerts and other special events leading up to approximately 1:20 p.m. that Monday, when it’ll be lights out in Carbondale for an estimated 2 minutes and 38 seconds.
The eclipse coincides with the first day of school at SIU. In a wise move on the administration’s part, classes have been canceled. Ditching the first day is no way to start the school year.
The campus will be a hive of activity all weekend. On tap: a carnival, craft fair, Eclipse Comic Con, a taping of Mat Kaplan’s talk show “Planetary Radio” and, at SIU Arena, an astronomy, science and technology expo (eclipse.siu.edu).
Exact details are still being worked out, but the “NASA Edge” video podcast crew plans to do a 4 1/2-hour broadcast from SIU, some of which will get picked up by NASA TV, available online as well as on cable and satellite channels (eclipse2017.nasa.gov).
Some 10,000 tickets are being sold at $25 a pop to people who want to watch the celestial action unfold from the university’s football stadium.
“That’s a great option for families with kids or first-time viewers,” said Bob Baer, a specialist in SIU’s physics department. “There’ll be programming, and we’ll talk you through it, telling you when to put on and take off your (eclipse-viewing) glasses.”
Another ideal viewing spot is nearby in Alto Pass, some 1,034 feet above sea level on Bald Knob Mountain. That’s the lofty home of Bald Knob Cross, a giant white cross that can be seen for miles. You’ll need a ticket, and those cost $50 to $250 a person.
“The view from there is great on a normal day,” Baer said. “For the eclipse, you’ll see the shadow approaching like storm clouds rolling in.”
This summer will be Baer’s second time witnessing a total solar eclipse. He saw his first last year, in Indonesia.
So … how was it?
“It’s almost life-changing,” he said. “Most people are just in shock at the end of it. They don’t believe what they just saw.”
If you can’t make the trip downstate this time around, or in 2024, here’s some good news: A total solar eclipse is headed for the Chicago area.
The bad news: not until 2099.
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