Lampasas County Chamber of Commerce hosts weekend of events for eclipse crowds
LAMPASAS, Texas (KWTX) - The City of Lampasas is getting one of the longest times in totality for the eclipse. The Lampasas County Chamber of Commerce has spent the last year organizing events to entertain all of the eclipse crowds.
”I’m Margaret Nelson and this is my husband David Nelson and we’re from Canoga Park, California,” eclipse traveler Margaret Nelson said.
The Lampasas County Farmers Market is usually held on Saturdays, but expanded to Sunday to accommodate the large crowds.
”We had to fight the winds on the way over because there’s been a pretty big hefty wind storm,” eclipse traveler Christine Lew from California said. “It took us four days to drive here.”
It’s been a successful weekend for Megan Cormack and her shop, One with the Wind, at the Lampasas County Farmers Market.
”Yesterday I sold more than I’ve ever sold at the market before,” Cormack said.
She’s been selling her handmade jewelry at the weekly farmers market on the Lampasas Square for the past year.
”I keep telling people coming into town that are worried about it being cloudy that at least they get to enjoy the beauty of Texas in the springtime with the bluebonnets,” Cormack said. “That’s one of the reasons why I made a bunch of bluebonnet jewelry to sell as well.”
Across town, Dr. Nat Gopalaswamy from NASA gave a presentation to eclipse travelers at the 580 Sports Complex.
”The amount of radio emissions from the sun will decrease during totality and that will basically give us information about the eclipse,” Dr. Gopalaswamy said.
Dr. Gopalaswamy is an astrophysicist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. On Sunday he and his team also showed the tourists a pair of telescopes and a radio telescope they’ll use on Monday for research.
”The main thing is to prepare, observe and then do some after eclipse observations and then pack up and go,” Dr. Gopalaswamy said.
It’s a moment that tourists and scientists alike don’t want to miss because another eclipse won’t be visible in the U.S. until 2044.
”We’ll be 95 because we’re about to turn 75, so I’m not sure we’ll make it,” eclipse traveler Nelson said.
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