CASTILE — On April 8, New York state parks throughout the state hosted visitors anxious to see this year’s historic solar eclipse.
Rife
Kelly Rife, public affairs coordinator for the New York State Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation’s Genesee Region, said safety was the No. 1 priority and the parks were more than prepared.
“In the end, we were overly prepared only because the weather kept more visitors away, but we felt it was far better to be ready than not to,” said Rife.
This year also marks the centennial celebration of the New York State Parks System and Rife said that preparing for solar eclipse visitors had the added benefit of preparing the parks for their 100th year.
“We opened a lot of facilities earlier than normal, which gives us a chance to assess everything, perform any maintenance tasks that are needed and prepare for what we hope will be a wonderful park season this year,” said Rife.
According to Rife, there were fewer visitors than anticipated due to overcast weather, but those who did visit the parks for the historic eclipse had a great experience.
“We neared parking capacity in part of the park, but we never quite reached it so everyone who wanted to experience it at Letchworth [State Park] was able to,” she said.
Rife noted that after the eclipse, park staff collected eclipse glasses to be sent to other parts of the world, where they can be distributed to impoverished children for future solar eclipse events.
While they are no longer collecting the glasses, she said they were able to successfully collect a large number of them to be donated.
CSEA Genesee State Park Commission Local President Brian Arnold said the staff were ready and prepared.
“All our staff at Letchworth State Park were ready, willing and able to ensure visitors had the best experience possible,” said Arnold. “Even though we didn’t see all the visitors we prepared for, we would have been ready. In the end, everyone had a safe, positive experience as a result of all the hard work and dedication of the Letchworth staff.”
Rife also noted how visitors enjoyed the eclipse safely.
“There were no emergencies and no real problems, largely as a result of all the planning and preparation that went into the event,” said Rife. “Everyone who visited was respectful, excited and happy to be participating in such an historic event.”
— Mathew L. Cantore
