The solar eclipse is now just days away, and the City of Niagara Falls is preparing for as many as one million people to come out and witness the rare celestial event on Monday.
Businesses are preparing for the crowds as well, and among those people coming out are several who have come from far and wide, saying it’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
Many have already started arriving days before in anticipation of the solar eclipse.
One eclipse viewer came to Niagara Falls from as far as Black Falls, Alberta. They say this is the second eclipse they have traveled to see and are happy to be staying in Canada to catch this one, after travelling to Idaho for the last one.
Others made the trip across the southern border to watch the eclipse totality. “We’re from Virginia, I was coming up here because my birthday this week, and I planned to come up here to see Niagara Falls when I turned 30, but I figured, why not come up on my 29th, for the solar eclipse.”
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One man says he travelled to see the last solar eclipse and found it was a life-changing experience.
“You can understand why people used to get freaked out by that before we understood space, because just the chill that you get when everything starts to get dark and quiet, and you just see that change in the whole atmosphere. It’s just really chilling, there’s just something about it that makes you feel really human, I guess,” said another excited viewer.
People who want to witness the eclipse are going to need to get a pair of protective eclipse glasses. Despite looking like 3D movie glasses from the early 2000s, they are designed to protect the viewer’s eyes from the sun while the eclipse is happening.
Business owners in the Niagara Falls area are preparing for the big day. One business owner stocked up on the protective glasses and is preparing his workers and his shop for Monday’s event.
READ MORE: Niagara police preparing for influx of traffic on day of solar eclipse
Niagara Falls is expected to see upwards of one million people visiting next week hoping to get a glimpse of the celestial event.
Permod Goyal has owned Fallsview Market for 12 years and remembers the last massive event in Niagara Falls. In 2012 when Nik Wallenda tight-roped across the falls, there were around 50,000 people in the falls said Goyal.
Goyal said he’s prepared for Monday to be much, much busier.
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“It will be jammed here, there will be no parking, so hopefully it will work out the way we are planning. I told my manager, my general manager, I told him make sure you have one extra person, I won’t be coming. Normally we have two to three, now we will have four to five,” said Goyal.
“We need all this promotion for Niagara Falls,” Goyal said.
The city has started setting up porta-potties and a stage for live music ahead of Monday.
In the Niagara region, the eclipse starts at 2:04 p.m. and ends at 4:23 p.m.
At 3:18 p.m. the moon will cover 100 percent of the sun. In Niagara Falls that will last for three minutes and 32 seconds.