Skies darkened over Louise Hays Park and the rest of the Hill Country on Monday afternoon as totality was underway , mimicking the gloom of late nighttime.

Thousands of festival goers at the Kerrville Eclipse Festival looked up through eclipse glasses as the moon covered the sun for roughly four minutes. Despite the thick cloud coverage, spectators got a couple of glimpses of the solar eclipse as the clouds parted several times.

While most people watched sprawled out across the park, some opted to float nearby along the Guadalupe River. Viewers cheered collectively, clapping and whistling after totality ended. Skies slowly brightened, turning to a dusk-like color, and the first batch of festival goers started to trickle toward the event’s exit.
“I enjoyed it. It was fun. This was the second I’ve seen,” said Ed who did not want his last name included in this article. said. “I saw the one in 2017, but it was a beautiful, clear day, so nicer than this. This was still a great experience and fun to be at a big gathering like this."

He and his wife, Sue, traveled from Tucson, Arizona, deciding to come to Kerrville to see the eclipse because it was the closest city with the longest totality. Statistically, it also was expected to be the spot with the best chance of clear weather.

“It didn’t quite work out like that,” Ed said. “It’s funny our family is back in New England, and they had clear weather there.”

Ed said the difference between having clear skies throughout the eclipse process was viewers could see the changes within the sky prior to totality. Without ideal weather, those at the festival saw parts of the moon's movement, but were unable to have the complete viewing experience.

Unlike Ed, who was near Charlotte, North Carolina, for the 2017 eclipse, Sue had never seen a total solar eclipse.

“It’s really interesting to watch it get dark, and it’s fun to be with the crowd,” Sue said. “Everybody [was] so calm.”

Kerrville officials were projecting an influx of over 150,000 people ahead of Monday’s total solar eclipse, warning residents and visitors to arrive in the city several days before if possible.

Although some people trickled into Kerrville throughout the weekend prior, most appeared to choose to come the day of. Early Monday morning, the roads remained relatively empty until about 9 a.m.
Joe and Maria Hayden, began the trek from San Antonio when the sun rose around 6 a.m. The Maryland residents traveled from outside Baltimore to view the celestial event.

“We wanted to get a little Northwest of San Antonio to be closer to the path because it is a longer amount of time the closer you get to the center,” Maria said. “This was the best chance we could find with having clear skies and a great place to visit.”

Wearing a NASA hat, Joe brought a unique perspective to his spectating experience. He worked on the James Webb Telescope for 13 years and works on the Roman Space Telescope, a follow-on to the Webb. It will launch in a few years and go in the same orbit as the Webb telescope but analyze different aspects of space, such as dark matter.
The couple was set up, ready to soak in the eclipse on a picnic blanket placed on a patch of grass. Joe photographed the celestial event using a tripod and a camera equipped with a neutral density filter, a protective lens photographers use to take pictures of an eclipse.

When first arriving at the festival, they were concerned that the weather would disrupt their ability to relish and capture the event. Joe said they planned to stay for the music after by Judah & The Lion, an alternative folk band headlining the festival.

Festival goer Graeme Douglas was more concerned about making his way out of the grounds after attending the 2017 eclipse and returning to San Antonio, where they were staying.

“The traffic going home was horrendous. It was nine hours to get back to the D.C. area [where they live],” Graeme said. “Normally, that should’ve been four to five hours.”

And some visitors like Ian and Laura Mckayg had longer journeys home. Originally from the United Kingdom, they traveled from California to San Antonio and from San Antonio to Kerrville to attend the festival.

“We were excited, but then we saw the weather,” Ian said. “We hoped it would help us clear up a bit.”

Douglas and Steve Sindiong had been planning to visit Kerrville for the eclipse for a while. Although Douglas said the weather was not cooperating fully, he was happy to be there for the experience.

This was Douglas’s second eclipse and Sindiong’s third. They have seen annular eclipses and the total solar eclipse in 2017 in Greensville, South Carolina, where they were joined by their dog Benji.
“The last little percentage of the sun disappearing has such a dramatic effect,” Douglas said. “It is not until you really get the disk fully covered that suddenly everything goes dark.”

“It’s kind of hair-raising, yeah, a little eerie,” Steve said.