Eclipse fans making Blackout at Green Pond a destination
Claude Boisson, a retired food services operations manager who spent most of his career in south Florida and eastern Virginia, has never been to Anderson.
But Boisson, now a resident of western North Carolina, plans to make Anderson a road-trip destination in August to experience the Blackout at Green Pond — an Anderson County group effort to celebrate the solar eclipse of 2017.
Boisson's daughter plans to drive here from Atlanta, a brother and two daughters plans to drive from Charlotte, a sister will fly in from south Florida, and two neighbors will join him in a drive from Saluda, North Carolina.
"We've got nine coming — so far," Boisson said Wednesday, as he discussed plans to be in a prime viewing position for the eclipse on Aug. 21. "I think we'll have more by the time August gets here."
The event is significant because Boisson, 66, has never witnessed a total solar eclipse. And from his home in Saluda, he'll have the chance to see only a partial eclipse, as will most of the U.S.
Anderson, by contrast, rests in a comparatively small 60-mile wide path of sunblock that will experience a rare total blackout for a brief period that Monday afternoon. Anderson County Parks, Recreation and Tourism Director Glenn Brill said the county plans to observe the event with its Blackout at Green Pond.
"There are places in Brevard County that are also in line for the total eclipse," Boisson said, "but I've done the research, and Brevard has a lot more cloudy days than Anderson does. So our chances of seeing it best are in Anderson."
Boisson hopes to arrive on Sunday, Aug. 20, but hasn't been able to book a room as close as he'd like. He's a member of the rewards progrom at Comfort Inn, which is already booked full for Aug. 20 and Aug. 21.
"I'm going to go to Anderson even if I have to pitch a tent," Boisson said. "I plan to get there early. I think there are going to be a lot of people in Anderson that day."
Green Pond Landing is a county park with a beach area on the south side of a peninsula that juts into Lake Hartwell near S.C. 24. It has been used primarily for fishing events since it was built in 2015.
The Blackout at Green Pond is scheduled from noon until 5 p.m. on Aug. 21. Anderson University Astronomy Prof. Robert Fries will lead the program.
The two-minute period of total eclipse will occur at 2:36 p.m. The partial stage of the eclipse will begin at 1:07 p.m. and end at 4:01 p.m.
Brill said Green Pond was chosen because it offers an excellent view of the southwest sky during that period.
"It's amazing, the amount of interest we're seeing in the eclipse," Brill said.
The not-yet-completed Green Pond Landing is scheduled to undergo two projects early in the summer — paving work on the upper parking lot and renovation of the launch ramps to improve traffic flow and handicapped parking. The cost of the projects is estimated at $800,000.
Follow Abe Hardesty on Twitter @abe_hardesty