The organizers of the Capital Eclipse Celebration held a second informational meeting Thursday night.
About 25 people came to hear information about what a solar eclipse is, like the one that will cross over Jefferson City on Monday, Aug. 21, and about the events organizers have planned around the greatest show on earth that day, that won't actually be on Earth.
"There's no way to know" at this point exactly how many people will come to Jefferson City to witness the total eclipse, Jill Snodgrass said.
Snodgrass is president of Daily Plan-It, which is leading the organization of the Capital Eclipse Celebration, with help from Convention and Visitors Bureau Executive Director Diane Gillespie and CVB Communications Manager Katherine Reed.
Based on inquiries and recent publicity though, Snodgrass said there is an increasing amount of interest in Jefferson City as a place to come and be under the line of totality - the narrow zone of the eclipse under which the entirety of the body of the sun will be darkened from view by the shadow of the moon for a couple minutes.
Barring cloudy skies, everyone in North America will be able to see at least a partial solar eclipse on the afternoon of Aug. 21, but only people in the relatively small strip of absolute shadow crossing the continental United States will be in totality.
Totality will last for two minutes and 31 seconds in Jefferson City, beginning at 1:13 p.m.
"My plan is around 20,000 to 30,000 people," Snodgrass said of the numbers of visitors the organizing group anticipates.
She said Jefferson City has been mentioned as one of the top locations to view the eclipse in publications inlcuding Smithsonian Magazine, the Los Angeles Times and Travel & Leisure.
Reed also said a contributing author has reported on Jefferson City's eclipse celebrations for an Associated Press travel story.
At the first informational meeting in March, Snodgrass reported 40-50 percent of the hotel rooms in Jefferson City had been booked for the weekend before Aug. 21.
On Thursday night, she said the number had increased to 60 percent.
"No one jacked up their rates," she said, though other communities' lodgings have.
She said some people wait until the final days leading up to the eclipse to make bookings, when the weather forecast is more reliable.
Camping reservations at the North Jefferson City Recreation Area across the Missouri River just opened last week, she said. A group of about 200 people from Wisconsin is coming, and they've contacted the Parks and Recreation Department to book a pavillion.
Camping at the site will be in three categories: primitve tent, car and RV without utility hookups.
Snodgrass said pretty much all the food vendor spots have been sold. There are eight planned food vendors; most are across the river at the recreation area, but two will be by the events at the Capitol. She said there are about 40 commercial vendors in total for the weekend's events.
"All this is scalable at this point," she said. "We don't want to be underprepared but not overprepared either."
Promotional cards to market the Capital Eclipse Celebration are being distributed to roadside rest areas across the state. Reed said 5,000 have been printed so far, and about half have been distributed.
Snodgrass said Facebook marketing of the events will begin Saturday - also when online orders for viewing glasses will become available. The glasses will be available individually and in bulk.
She made clear people won't be able to safely participate in direct viewing of the eclipse itself without special viewing glasses. During totality, people can look at the sun without any protection, but for all other parts of the eclipse, eye protection is a must - and ordinary sunglasses won't cut it either.
Reed said 20,000 special viewing glasses have been ordered: 2,000 are publicly available now, with another 5,000 in reserve for the day of the eclipse.
People seeking more information about events or how to participate in planning can visit capitaleclipse.org.