Lima will be near the center of totality for the 2024 solar eclipse.
The total solar eclipse will move across the United States on April 8, 2024, reaching Ohio near Greenville around 3:00pm and passing through Lima from 3:10-3:13pm. Russ Decker is part of the Lima Chamber committee planning for the eclipse. "We're expecting a pretty large influx of folks. We think a lot of people are going to travel to Ohio as a place to view the eclipse. What we've learned from the 2017 eclipse, in those areas where you are going to get a view of the total eclipse, the population surge coming into that community can be anywhere from double to three times the current population. So for us here in Allen County, that means we could see anywhere from 100,000 to 200,000 people trying to show up in Allen County to view the eclipse. Russ told us that's a great opportunity for businesses that can sell things like souvenirs, lodging, gas and food. But it is also likely to create a logistics nightmare with traffic gridlocked, cell service disrupted and emergency services overwhelmed. The Lima/Allen County Chamber of Commerce has created a committee consisting of emergency services, public works, hospitals and others to plan for the eclipse so we can welcome the visitors to our community and keep everything running as smoothly as possible.
Also at Monday's meeting, we welcomed the Ohio high school wrestling champ, Eli Criblez from Shawnee High School and his parents and congratulated him on his outstanding wrestling career.
