The 2024 total solar eclipse is mere hours away, and the forecast looks like it will cooperate (for the most part). The only question still to be answered for many skygazers is what kind of crowds they will have to deal with.
Though experts disagreed with their estimates, the state put out pretty lofty predictions for the number of people headed to the Natural State for this event.
The Arkansas House of Representatives expects “approximately two million people,” a number echoed by the Department of Transportation (along with 700,000 additional vehicles). The Department of Parks, Heritage and Tourism puts the number closer to 1.5 million, while Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders hedged a bit at her press conference yesterday and said the total number of expected visitors was “300,000 to 1.5 million.” 40/29 News reported that the “state’s population of 3 million people is expected to double on April 8.”
While not a scientific measure by any stretch, a look at Arkansas social media today suggests that the actual tourist total is going to fall somewhere between “underwhelming” and “exactly as whelmed as listening to the experts warrants.”
On Reddit, a thread posted this morning, asking how eclipse traffic in Arkansas looks so far, has over 200 comments. They overwhelmingly say that the anticipated crowds haven’t shown up and that there is a ridiculously large police presence everywhere. Even specific locations that one would definitely expect to be busy simply … aren’t?
On Facebook, people are sharing posts from and about restaurants and service-industry workers noting how few people (even aside from eclipse expectations) were showing up.
That’s not to say that nobody has shown up. This photo of a flight full of people arriving at LIT to watch the eclipse made the rounds on Twitter:
And this national climate reporter for NBC News tweeted that he was headed to the Land of Opportunity as well.
One guy even tweeted about meeting eclipse tourists from Switzerland in the River Market!
Even more anecdotally, a drive around Riverdale, Midtown, Hillcrest, River Market, Downtown, SoMa, and West Little Rock this evening turned up a few dozen plates each from neighboring states, plus Alabama and Florida, along with a few from other states and even Canada.
So, yes, there are some people in town solely because of the eclipse.
Still, it seems that the overall total of visitors is going to be shy of the state’s estimates.
Red Moon Tavern in West Little Rock planned to stay open later for the expected throngs of people. That didn’t pan out.
The Fish Net in Caddo Valley said they have overstocked based on the expected tourist volume and were encouraging people to dine in or carry out, at a discount no less.
The aforementioned drive through Little Rock earlier this evening showed mixed results for capital city eateries. Some (Loblolly Creamery, The Root Cafe, Lost Forty Brewing, Camp Taco, Flying Fish) restaurants appeared to be slammed. Others — including Samantha’s (open on a Sunday specifically for the eclipse crowd), Hill Station (ditto), and most places in West Little Rock — sat nearly empty. This was between 6:30 and 8 p.m., and traffic was not a problem at any point other than at the heart of the River Market.
If there were two million or even one million additional people in the state within the path of totality, one would expect Little Rock to be overflowing the night before the eclipse, Hot Springs area restaurants to be packed all weekend, and Russellville traffic to be unbearable.
The fact that none of that appears to be happening, even if the only evidence is social-media posting, seems to support the outside estimate that Arkansas would see somewhere between 70,000 and 281,000 visitors.
