Spring City residents prepare for big eclipse crowd
SPRING CITY, Tenn. (WDEF) — A small Rhea County Town will have one of the longest amounts of totality in our area.
The small town of Spring City is preparing for the eclipse. Preparations are underway at Veteran’s Park and Nature Park. Inside City Hall, eclipse glasses and t-shirts are being sold.
“We’ve been using several months to do this. More so than anything, we are making sure to take care of the crowd control and also we offer a safe atmosphere for it you know,” Mayor Billy Ray Patton said.
With two minutes and 39 seconds, the town is getting one of the longest amounts of totality in our area.
“We’ve been told by the people who really do follow the eclipse that just a few seconds more, to them that is just going to be incredible,” Mayor Patton said.
Businesses are benefiting from the excitement as well.
“We’re totally booked up on all the cabins and have been for several months and our slips are basically all full and so we hope to have a huge crowd,” said Pat Becker, one of the owners of Spring City Resort and Marina.
Becker is looking forward to introducing people to the area.
“We are getting people from far away, even out of the country and so it is a great opportunity to meet different people and for them to get a good look at the area,” Becker said.
Some are hoping the eclipse won’t only have short term effects, but also long term effects on the town.
“A lot of folks that have called about coming in to Spring City, they want to come in early and look the area over because of them, they may even decide to relocate here,” Mayor Patton said.
The town is expecting an influx of people, but officials aren’t sure how many.
“But based on the number of calls that we are getting from everywhere this thing may just blow us away,” Mayor Patton said.
The Spring City eclipse festival will start Saturday at 2pm and go through Monday.
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