Where to watch the eclipse in Erie? Officials, concerned about gridlock, suggest city parks

Plenty of people in the Erie region will be hunting for exceptional views on April 8.

Many are expected to flock to Presque Isle State Park, downtown Erie or areas along Presque Isle Bay or the Lake Erie shoreline for the once-in-a-lifetime solar eclipse.

The expected massive influx of eclipse-watchers has prompted city of Erie officials to suggest that citizens and visitors consider city-owned parks as viewing sites on April 8.

“We’re encouraging people to go to the public spaces and to go to places other than the bayfront because the downtown traffic could be pretty bad that day,” said Renee Lamis, Mayor Joe Schember’s chief of staff.

Gridlock concerns

Schember referenced concerns about “gridlock” during his weekly news conference on Feb. 15., when he announced that Erie City Hall, 626 State St., would be closed to the public on April 8 and that many city employees would work remotely that day because of the eclipse.

Erie is the only Pennsylvania city in the path of totality for the eclipse, which means the moon will completely block the sun in this area.

“We know from other communities that have experienced a total eclipse that people travel from all over the world to view it,” Schember said. “There is an expected influx of visitors ranging from about 60,000 to about 260,000 people.  This means a lot of traffic.”

Schember said some cities that have experienced a total solar eclipse have experienced up to 12 hours of traffic gridlock once the eclipse ends.

Public park options

Lamis said that several city parks will have portable toilets and extra trash receptacles on-site on April 8.

Those parks include:

• Bayview Park near the foot of Cherry Street;

• Nate Levy Park on East Second Street, between Holland and German streets;

• Wallace Park/Playground at East Front and Wallace streets;

• James N. Thompson Land Lighthouse Park at the foot of Lighthouse Street;

• McClelland Park off East 26th Street in southeast Erie;

• Frontier Park in the 1500 block of West Sixth Street.

National personal finance news website MoneyTalksNews has listed Erie as one of the seven best places to watch the 2024 eclipse. Erie was also listed on Astronomy.com's list of 20 of the best places to view the 2024 total solar eclipse.

The eclipse is expected to begin at about 2 p.m. on April 8, with totality at about 3:15 p.m., according to information on VisitErie.com.

Contact Kevin Flowers at [email protected]. Follow him on X at @ETNflowers.

This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Solar eclipse: Erie PA wants eclipse-watchers to use public parks