With hotels in cities in the path of totality quickly selling out or hitting astronomical prices, camping and music festivals are fast becoming the easiest way to pre-book lodging for April 8’s total solar eclipse in North America.
The latest is the Ecliptic Festival 2024, a four-day event (April 5-9, from $385) near Little Rock, Arkansas, for 4,000 people being organized by Atlas Obscura, a magazine and travel company that catalogs unusual and obscure travel destinations. Several other festivals have been open for ticket sales for almost a year, among them Kerrclipse, Ground Zero and Texas Eclipse Festival. Now ‘Music, Science, Art & Wonder’
Unusual And Obscure
Being held at Cedar Glades Park, Hot Springs, Arkansas, organizers say that the Ecliptic Festival will blend “music, science, art and wonder.” The music is being taken care of by the organizers of the indie music festival Valley of the Vapors, which is now in its 20th year. Acts include Allah-Las, Blonde Redhead, Shannon and the Clams, Deerhoof and Mary Lattimore. Science talks confirmed so far include Rebecca Boyle, author of the new book Our Moon, rocket scientist and radio astronomer Summer Ash, and storyteller, performer and “rogue physicist” Dr. Kelly Reidy.
Great Outdoors
A follow-up to a similar event held successfully in the Snake River Valley, Oregon, for the last total solar eclipse in the U.S. on August 21, 2017, the Ecliptic Festival’s venue is suited to anyone wanting to be in the great outdoors. Although a “we eclipse” experience is easily possible among the 4,000 ticket holders, so does a lonely “me eclipse” experience in Cedar Glades Park’s 400 acres of woods, hills, mountain bike paths, and hiking trails.
Festival Of Wonder
“Over four days, we’ll come together to celebrate this rare astronomical event with an all-out festival of wonder featuring celebrated scientists, legendary musicians, curated vendors, artists, and explorers,” said Megan Roberts, Atlas Obscura’s Vice President of Experiential. “There won’t be another opportunity to see this rare cosmic phenomenon within the continental U.S. for the next 20 years.”
The next total solar eclipse to occur in the contiguous U.S. is on August 23, 2044.
