A lot of things are done differently in Kerrville, Texas. Most downtown stores are closed on Sundays and Mondays, and the local restaurants are chock-full of residents taking longer-than-an-hour lunch breaks during the weekdays.
Time itself feels like it moves slower. This usual stillness is a far cry from the conditions those living in the Hill County spot expect in the days before and after the 2024 solar eclipse next Monday.
Finding itself smack dab in the path of totality, Kerrville boasts a whopping four minutes and 25 seconds of totality—or the duration of the solar eclipse when the moon completely covers the sun.
For this reason, officials estimate more than 150,000 people will choose the city of roughly 25,000 people as their eclipse viewing spot. The anticipated influx of people has caused a frenzy among community members, business owners and city administrators gearing up for the event.
However, most say they are looking forward to having the opportunity to show why they love Kerrville to a whole population of individuals who might not have had a reason to visit until now.
The city offers countless festivities to celebrate being home to the once-in-a-lifetime solar phenomenon. The culminating event is the Kerrville Eclipse Festival on Monday.
Visitors from other states and countries will collectively look up to the sky, at Louise Hays Park. Long-time residents may opt to watch from the comfort of their homes, avoiding any traffic or parking problems.
A Path Toward Preparedness
Joe Herring, Jr., dubbed by some locals as the “town historian,” was born and raised in Kerrville — like many of the city’s residents. According to him, Kerrville has never experienced an event of the caliber of the upcoming solar eclipse.
Herring, who currently serves on Kerrville’s City Council and is running for mayor, said the city’s Police and Fire Chiefs, Chris McCall and Eric Maloney, and members of the Kerr County Sheriff’s Department formed a task force to determine how Kerrville would handle the projected volume of visitors.
“The estimates range from 125,000 to way more than can actually get here. The official estimate we are planning for is 150,000,” Herring said. “Which, in a small town, presents a problem. Kerrville’s population is 25,000 so we’re concerned about traffic flow, cell service and everybody getting in and out safely while having a good time.”
Herring added that the task force has been working together on plans for 18 months. The group used examples from what occurred in other smaller, rural towns on the path of the totality of past solar eclipses that were located near larger metropolitan areas. Officials are concerned that those in San Antonio will travel to Kerrville because parts of San Antonio are not in the path of totality.
This process included analyzing preparedness efforts during the 2017 solar eclipse in a small town in Wyoming, which was in a similar geographic situation as Kerrville, and they built the city’s plan based on them.
Herring said this plan includes closing off streets to clear a path to I-10 — although he muttered under his breath, “Lord knows how many people will be on I-10 — deploying emergency material across the city, requesting additional law enforcement and safety personnel, shutting down certain streets to make it easier for emergency vehicles to get through if needed and designating neighborhood streets for local traffic only.
“But no one’s going to be there to see if you have a Kerrville passport,” he joked.
According to Herring, one of the other things the task force learned from the small town in Wyoming was that once the sun was back out, everyone hopped in their cars and left. Recent forecasts suggested that cloud coverage could block the eclipse from being seen, which Herring said could detract from those wanting to come for the solar event.
“About a year ago, when the city was doing all this planning, someone said, ‘What are we going to do if it’s cloudy?’ And the only answer is we’ll be in the dark,” he laughed. “Plus, you know what they say about Texas weather. If you don’t like it, just wait a minute.”
Herring said the morning of last year’s annular eclipse in October, also visible in Kerrville, it was cloudy across the city. But, by the time the eclipse came, the clouds had cleared completely.
“I hope it’s clear because I want to see it [the eclipse]. My daughter lives in Charlotte, North Carolina, and they had this big event [in 2017], and I was jealous,” he said. “I wanted to see it. She sent pictures, too. She can’t come down but I am going to send her pictures of us so she can be jealous!”
A Bit Of Rusty Gold
Unlike some businesses not braving the busy eclipse conditions, Sunrise Antique Mall, owned by Robert and Vickie Love, will be open on Monday.
The Loves purchased the 116-year-old building home to Sunrise in 1999 after the couple combined their love of antiques with Robert’s business experience. They bought the property, which was already an antique mall, and worked to build up the number of vendors and inventory.
They currently house antiques, memorabilia and collectibles from 45 different vendors. Vickie said it took roughly four or five years to accumulate enough vendors to start filling spaces when they first started.
Vickie describes the store as a “fun store,” full of things “you don’t need, but you want.”
“You just never know what you’re going to find her. I call it rusty gold instead of junk,” she said. “You don’t find these paperweights at Walmart—but you find them at antique malls. They just don’t make a lot of this stuff anymore [to this quality], and that’s why I say they’re treasures.”
This week, Sunrise celebrated its 25th anniversary in its downtown location. Throughout the day, Vickie greets a mix of local regulars she has known for years and customers traveling from out of town.
Vickie and Robert have featured most of the mall vendors for years. She referred to one who has worked with them for 15 years, who was dropping off tea cups with a naked woman sculpted as handles as her “sister from another mother.”
A couple of days before the eclipse, several regulars stopped by, and a small trickle of customers visiting from out of town streamed into the mall’s doors. It was nothing like the crowds Vickie said they are anticipating seeing on Monday.
Vickie hired her son, Jonathan, to help out in the store to prepare for the eclipse visitors. Robert said that residents were also told to get ready for large crowds during last year’s annular eclipse.
“Last October, the city said we were going to have all these people, and we really didn’t see an influx of people,” he added. ‘But we are going to be open. We just don’t know what to expect.”
However, he said he knows a total solar eclipse will likely bring in more crowds. Sunrise will be closed temporarily for about an hour or so during the eclipse.
“We want to be able to see it, too,” Vickie said.
“Around Here They Just Call Me Daric”
Daric Easton, the general manager of Grape Juice, a wine bar and restaurant in downtown Kerrville, said he has been getting calls from people flying in from New York, Virginia, Oregon and other places along the East and West Coasts who want to book reservations.
“We’re out of there [with the number of reservations]. But, in the best way,” Easton said. “We’re not a very big restaurant, and we’re not a very big town. We’ve been preparing for this for about six to nine months.”
“We want people to come in here and feel like they’ve always been here and be treated like locals,” Easton added. “It’s kind of exciting to show the greater world what we are about here.”
Grape Juice, owned by Patrick and Keri Wilt, has become known as Kerrville’s go-to local pub-like spot. Easton describes the menu as “pretty eclectic, much like the staff in the building.”
The menu features spins on comfort food using venison, antelope and quail and a variety of locally sourced beers on tap and wine. The restaurant is not doing a rendition of an eclipse-themed special because it wants to showcase Kerrville as it is daily to those who may not know anything about it.
“Our main goal is to show visitors that Kerrville can go toe to toe with anybody else,” Easton said. “With the traffic we’re going to see, our main function with this opportunity is to expose people to local businesses and supplies.”
“I think there are a lot of misconceptions about small towns and how they operate. I can’t speak for all small towns, but we’re [Kerrville] pretty hip,” he added. “We want to provide the people who come here not only with a familiar experience but also those who live here with an experience comparable to that in nearby major cities but with more hometown flair.”
According to Easton, reservations are booked for Saturday. The restaurant is closed on Sundays during normal business weeks, but because of the eclipse, it will be open. However, Grape Juice will not be open on Monday as many employees live on the outskirts of town and are unsure if they could battle the traffic.
Easton said because of reservations, staff knows a portion of the number of people to expect. The wildcard for them is the outdoor patio, which is on a first-come, first-serve basis, but about three or four additional staff members will help.
Easton added the benefit of Grape Juice is that, as a restaurant, it only has so much space and kitchen capacity to operate. He said he could see ticket times being a bit longer, table side service, too, and the possibility that they may max out in operational capacity for about an hour or so.
Easton plans to view the eclipse with his wife and two children in their home, about seven minutes from the restaurant.
“That’s the beauty for us locals. We don’t have to find parking or a place to stay. We’re just walking outside,” Easton said. “We’re [his family] probably going to duck out of all the razzle dazzle because we’re going to be experiencing it firsthand here anyway.”
“I’m interested to see my response, that visceral reaction to it [the eclipse]. I don’t know if it’s hyperbolic, but they’ve [experts] been saying it’s like life-altering,” he added. “I’ll allow it to happen, but am I gonna laugh and cry? Am I going to be in shock?”
This article appears in Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2024.
