This is five on your side at 6 focused on you my God that is amazing phones down glasses up at least for a moment as the sun duck behind the moon first time in totality amazing definitely worth the hour and a half drive to get here thanks for joining us I'm Mike Bush and I'm Kelly Jackson people gathered in towns all across the path of totality for some.
It was a twice in a-lifetime event we begin our coverage in Cape Gerardo where city leaders have been preparing for an influx of tourists and they say the crowd exceeded their expectations that's where we find Al Al red and chief meteorologist Scott Connell and they had some of the best views along the path guys we certainly did did we yes it was.
An absolutely awesome experience this afternoon we're here at the Sports plex in Cape dardo they also had a big bash here in 2017 people started showing up at 5:00 a.m. do opened at at like 10 yeah and some people even slept in their cars in nearby parking lots and then as soon as that Moon just began covering the sun even just a little bit it got so.
Quiet out here and the temperatures dropped too you know we knew that was coming but we were up about 76° and we went down to 67° so it was a dramatic experience the wind slackened what a gorgeous sight it was to see the moon move entirely over the sun they had 25 viewing parties all over Cape tens of thousands of people descending on this.
City bringing in hundreds of thousands of Tourism dollars and then of course we had people here from 36 States we saw 36 different license plates but then people from Australia to India to Canada just to share these four minutes together what really amazed me it's the phenomena to see so many people from all over the places and also meeting people.
Share the same passion with all kind of a gadgets trying to capture this experience you know it was really cool because a lot of people did bring their espcially equipped you know telescopes and cameras because you had to have special lenses to see it and there was just this really big Aura of excitement around here as.
That was taking place and everybody capturing you know this moment in time because not everybody in the country gets to see this and for those of us that have been in the path of totality in 2017 again in 24 this was pretty amazing twice and yes we are definitely spoiled from Cape Gerardo to Collinsville we do have a team of.
Reporters across the region for coverage to you for you today let's begin with Holden kwii he is in Carbondale one of the few places in the path of totality for both the 2017 solar eclipse and the 2024 solar eclipse Holden well and it was both breathtaking and Bittersweet here in Carbondale today you know while you mentioned most places.
Don't get eclipses that often we've actually had two here in Southern Illinois in the past seven years but this is the last last one that will come across Southern Illinois for at least 300 more years after clouds ruined the SIU Eclipse party in 2017 the Skies over Carbondale were crystal clear for the 13,000 plus that packed inside Saluki.
Stadium where it was a game day like atmosphere in fact some people actually chose to set up tents and telescopes outside in an effort to avoid the crowds inside the stadium Becca Perry and her newborns made the trip from Huntsville Alabama to Southern Illinois for what truly could be a once in a lifetime experence.
Erience it was just beautiful i' always see videos where people were ugly crying and I was like what is their deal but I kind of shed a couple tears myself like a dork but it's just like the beautiful white light around it you can't even it's just undescribable now I tried to talk to Becca's kids but obviously the eclipse.
Left them well speechless but think about this just for a minute those little boys that you saw strapped on her chest the next time there's an eclipse in North America that goes from coast to coast that's in 2045 those little boys are actually going to be 22 years old reporting in Carbondale Illinois Holden kwii 5 on your.
Side and somehow hold and I imagine that they will end up taking their mom and dad to see the eclipse now there were several cities in Missouri that experiened totality today including Farmington hundreds of people gathered this afternoon at angler park right now five on your side's Tracy Hinson there to experience the eclip she's there now.
Live and things have certainly quieted down a bit Tracy really it's just me and the ball players now there were about a few thousand people here earlier today all watching the eclipse this is a huge Park so it was very spread out really all of our images from today just don't take in how many people were here to share in.
The experience now I did have my strainer out for about an hour and 15 minutes lots of people came by to check out what we could see here so what you'll see in this video is the strainer projecting multiple images of the eclipse starting out before the moon entered the picture just round circles like normal but as it kept going you can.
See the circles started to fill in re-recorded every 15 minutes leading up to totality then at totality nothing of course no sun to cast those Shadows fun for us and for others a moment to bask in the energy of the sun we made these at the festival they're solar headdresses we hope they'll capture the energy of the eclipse yeah there you go.
And we also M for some special rocks drewy dry quarts Drey quarts and we have special rocks that we're going to get charged from the Sun today and we're going to give them most gifts to our family and friends back home well those very kind motans gave me my very own mind Missouri jewelry that they got special for today we'll see if.
It has takes the energy of the eclipse back home with me it'll be something I treasure for years to come live in Farmington Tracy Henson five on your side for people who were not in the path of totality it was still a pretty good show that includes Collinsville where city leaders held an eclipse watch party.
There as well Justina Cornell has been in Collinsville and continues our team coverage yeah and right now it may be quiet there's it is completely empty but it was packed earlier today with people there was hundreds of people here looking up at the skies and there was music there was dancing and lots of fun now there were local vendors from the.
Metro East setup shop and we also had kids playing in front of the bubble bus and there were fire blowers performing right before the clock hit 2011 when the partial eclipse happened it got cooler darker and the lights on the street automatically turned on now some people I spoke to say they'll never forget this moment I spoke to one woman from Glen.
Carbon Joanne way Meer she came with her sister and her best friend she said they're retired and wanted a fun atmosphere of course perfect spot to do that way Meer said while she saw the eclipse in 2017 this time was also special we had glasses left over from 2017 so hopefully they worked we did see it.
Awesome uh it's a mustsee now others tell me this was really a bonding experience I spoke to one dad from Belleville he brought his three-year-old son he said he got emotional it was just a really special moment for them to have with each other now let's end it back to the desk we had people travel thousands of.
Miles all the way from Australia like we mentioned to see this and we got to see it for twice as long as we did in 2017 it was only yeah two minutes of seven years ago yeah and so four whole minutes this time it seemed like it went awfully fast but what an amazing sight to see you know that Sunset essentially just roll towards you and then the 360 Sunset.
All around you while you're in totality an amazing experience out here for sure Mike Kelly it does amaze me that people from all over the world came to Cape Gerardo and other places but what I also noticed uh Scott and an what I also noticed is that as we were watching the eclipse special and watching your live shots a little earlier today after the.
Four minutes we looked behind you and you know it started to get light again and then we saw people in their car starting to pull away they were there for the four minutes and then moved on I will say it wasn't that many people plus then they were in standstill traffic right an hour and a half yeah and some of them are still on 55 right.
Now they haven't made it f yet Mike all right thanks you guys and for all things total solar eclipse all you have to do is text the word of course Eclipse to 314 425 5355 and we will send you a link and our coverage of the
