GORHAM — A celestial event in April 2024 is expected to bring thousands of people and their dollars into northern New Hampshire and local and state officials want area businesses to capitalize on this tourism opportunity.

A total solar eclipse will occur on April 8, 2024, in North America, and in its direct path are Lancaster, Colebrook and Pittsburg.

These towns will be prime viewing spots for the post-2 p.m. eclipse-stage start in the North Country. The eclipse will pass over Mexico, the U.S. and Canada, according to solarsystem.nasa.gov.

Planning for the eclipse is underway in New Hampshire with a focus on helping small businesses and lodging owners to reap the benefits leading up to next spring’s event.

“People travel and spend a lot of money to see eclipses,” said Mountains of Stars director Douglas Arion, a professor emeritus of Wisconsin-based Carthage College and who operates Mountains of Stars from Twin Mountain. Mountains of Stars is a non-profit that teaches people about astronomy and nature. It started in 2012 as a partnership between Carthage and the Appalachian Mountain Club.

The impetus for planning for the 2024 total solar eclipse stems from another recent eclipse on Aug. 21, 2017, with Wyoming having the best viewing spot. When businesses outside of Wyoming took a long economic view of the vehicular traffic jams resulting from the crowds of eclipse-watchers leaving after the eclipse, coordinating the money-making event took on new meaning. Astro-tourism is a budding industry, he said.

Arion, along with Ericka Canales, executive director of the Coos Economic Development Corp., and Jocelyn Bouchard, marketing assistant for the state’s Business and Economic Affairs Division of Travel and Tourism Development, spoke about the benefits and challenges of solar eclipse event planning at a meeting in Gorham.

Already underway from numerous U.S. locations are the multiple websites and Facebook pages preparing for next April’s total solar eclipse when the moon passes between the sun and the earth and completely hides the sun.

“It’s really an event you can make the most of,” Bouchard said.

Arion described being in Lancaster, Colebrook and Pittsburg as being at the solar Super Bowl. Those in Berlin and Gorham will be in the stands of the Super Bowl stadium — close to the solar action but not near the goalposts.

Paula Kinney, executive coordinator of the Androscoggin Valley Chamber of Commerce, said it is important to not mislead visitors into believing that the total solar eclipse would be as visible in Berlin as it will be in Lancaster and further north on Route 3.

The meeting featured marketing strategies for attendees: Proper, safe sunglasses, solar filters and sunshades and “Galileoscope” kits are for sale; hotels and motels are encouraged to mandate minimum stays during the eclipse and line up in advance vans to take tourists to the best North Country viewing sites.

The 2024 eclipse is an educational opportunity too, Arion said. The White Mountain Science, Inc. (WMSI) in Littleton and the North Country Education Services in Gorham are preparing educators to develop science curricula around the eclipse.

The next total solar eclipse in the U.S. will happen in 2045, Arion said. A solar eclipse visible in New Hampshire will next happen in 2079.

These articles are being shared by partners in The Granite State News Collaborative. For more information visit collaborativenh.org.

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