The world came to Southeast Missouri on April 8, and Poplar Bluff was waiting.
“Our community really stepped up to welcome people,” said Steve Halter, president of the Greater Poplar Bluff Area Chamber of Commerce.
The Poplar Bluff High School campus was packed with visitors for the Total Eclipse of the Bluff, adding to the once-in-a-lifetime event with food trucks, games, music and appearances by local and state icons: record-breaking Three Rivers College coach Gene Bess alongside TRC’s Rocky Raider and Kansas City’s mascot KC Wolf.
“A lot of people, that was their biggest question today. ‘When’s the wolf coming?’” said Mike Morton, a 4-H volunteer.
Travis Boyter, an amateur astronomer and astrophysics fan, unloaded his family and his Orion SkyView Pro telescope from his van a few hours before totality. The Boyters came from their home city of Gonzalez, Louisiana, by way of Memphis, then St. Louis.
“We were originally going to Austin, but the forecast started looking not good,” Boyters said. “We played it by ear, chasing the sun.”
They found PBHS’s event online and were grateful to end their journey at a site with bathrooms and food trucks, he added. “I felt supremely relieved when I pulled into the parking lot.”
Travis and his wife Jenny regularly star- and planet-gaze from their backyard with their children. This was the next step in introducing them to all the universe had to offer.
“The wonder of the world is something to be sought after. So that’s why I do it, for them. And me, because I love it,” Boyter said.
The Boyters joined sun-seekers from 19 countries and all 50 states, according to a count by the chamber.
Rigko Ebens from the Netherlands watched the 2017 eclipse in Nebraska and was excited to visit a new part of the U.S. to see this one. He said he chose Poplar Bluff because it was a good spot to view the totality.
Japanese Americans Naoki and Madoka Takahashi were also inspired by the 2017 eclipse, and invited their relatives, Tomoko and Kohei Sasaguri, to fly in from Japan. The Takahashis originally intended to catch a plane from Minnesota to Texas and meet the Sasaguris there, but both families had to adapt to the forecast.
“We had to change plans because of the weather, and we got last-minute tickets here,” Madoka Takahashi explained.
Closer to home, former Raiders coach Gene Bess was excited to view his first total eclipse.
“I’ve been looking forward to this. I’ve got a friend who’s been to one and he’s prepared me for it. He said once you see one you never forget it,” Bess said. “People are always looking for something to gather around and I think this is a great cause.”
Alongside him, Bishop Ron Webb added, “This is amazing... I’m very, very excited to see it with the coach.”
All eyes were turned upward at 1:56 p.m. People cheered at the high school, in downtown Poplar Bluff and at the airport at the moment of totality, spontaneously.
“I’m speechless — I can’t believe that just happened,” exclaimed Tyler Leuenhagen, a college student from Marion, Iowa. He and his mother Carol set off at 3 a.m. to arrive in time for the eclipse. Leuenhagen had prepared for years and bought a special telescope-camera hybrid to capture the celestial moment, but chose Poplar Bluff only one day prior due to unpredictable weather.
Leuenhagen is majoring in meteorology and considering an astronomy minor. He and his family also saw 2017’s two-minute eclipse from Glendale, Wyoming. This one was even better, he stated.
“I was so nervous... because I’ve never photographed something like this before, but I think it turned out amazing,” Leuenhagen said.
Halter called the eclipse “the best four minutes of my life” and thanked the chamber board and Butler County 4-H for making the event possible.
“It makes me so happy to see the community come together to host what’s really a worldwide event,” he said.
Though the festivities only lasted a day and the eclipse itself just minutes, the efforts of organizers made a lasting impact on visitors. In the words of Moya Seay, whose family and friends traveled from Tennessee and Georgia: “We’ve never been to Missouri — we’ll probably come back.”
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