Thousands of visitors from Ohio and other states descended on Logan County over the weekend and continuing Monday, April 8, to experience the once-in-a-lifetime phenomenon — the total solar eclipse.
Logan County was in the path of full totality for the solar eclipse this year, and at 3:10 p.m. Monday, Bellefontaine and other area locales experienced total darkness. Street lights turned on and business lights glowed in the dark for almost four minutes, as the moon passed in front of the sun and completely blocked its light.
Area residents and guests enjoyed checking out the sight with their solar eclipse glasses while gathered on the Logan County Courthouse lawn, local parks and many other prime viewing locations in the county.
A mother-and-daughter pair, Laura Medlock and Grace Cogar, traveled about six hours from Wytheville, Va., a small town located in the Blue Ridge Mountains, to take in the excitement and fun of the eclipse at Bellefontaine’s Moon Glow Festival. They enjoyed lounging on the courthouse lawn during 70 degree temperatures Monday afternoon with their two dogs and partaking of tasty treats from food trucks parked nearby.
“We did this kind of on a whim, just decided over the weekend that we were going to come up here,” Medlock said. “We left home yesterday afternoon and slept a few hours at a rest stop overnight. We made it up here today. We’ve been enjoying your town and we love the atmosphere of the festival.”
Medlock, a native of Florida, said she and her daughter settled in Wytheville together recently, enjoying the scenic and spacious rural environment. Cogar previously resided in downtown Atlanta. They were surprised to learn that they also were visiting Ohio’s highest point on their journey to Bellefontaine.
While all of Logan County schools closed their doors Monday for the total solar eclipse, some other schools around the state also opted to close Monday. The Walters family from Johnstown decided to make the trek to Bellefontaine as well to take in the festivities.
Siblings Alena and Noah Walters enjoyed hula-hooping together and checking out other activities for youths in town. Their Leanne Walters said the family looked for towns located in the path of totality, and that’s how they settled on visiting Bellefontaine, located about an hour from their home, arriving around 10:30 a.m. Monday.
“We’d never been to Bellefontaine before. It’s really fun, and we’ll be back.
“Traffic wasn’t too bad getting here. We’ll see how it is when we head back home.”
Dr. Don Koenigsberg, an anesthesiologist from Philadelphia also visited Bellefontaine to view Monday’s solar eclipse with his wife, daughter and son-in-law, both Columbus residents.
Dr. Koenigsberg used an Olympus E-M1 Mark III digital camera with a 400 mm lens on a tripod to capture the photos. He and his party viewed the event from a yard near the Logan County Adult Parole Authority along Madriver Street.
