Eclipse Is A Big Unknown For Officials

This month’s eclipse has a lot of people wondering what the big deal is. Schools in Putnam and Smith counties are closed, local community groups are selling out of eclipse glasses and the potential crowds haven’t even arrived yet.

Cookeville-Putnam County Chamber of Commerce Vice President of Visitor Development Zach Ledbetter said the problem is the eclipse is an unknown.

“It’s a very big deal, people travel around the world to see these phenomenon, all the hotel rooms are sold out for the Sunday night before, then you have a higher than normal occupancy for the Saturday night before and the Monday following the eclipse as well,” Ledbetter said.

This eclipse will bring about 2 1/2 minutes of total dark to the Upper Cumberland, making this a prime place to view the event. Since we’ve never had an eclipse of this level, officials don’t know what to plan for.

The eclipse will take place at about 1:30 p.m. on Monday, Aug. 21.