HOPKINSVILLE, KY (CHRISTIAN COUNTY NOW) – For just under three minutes on Aug. 21, 2017, a total eclipse occurred, and the city of Hopkinsville was covered in a golden sunset. As this impressive cosmic event fell into the lap of the city eight years ago, it will always be remembered as a time of community, chaos, and fun.
Leading up to the year of the eclipse in March 2016, the Kentucky legislature released an official resolution recognizing Hopkinsville-Christian County as the point of Greatest Eclipse and the best place on Earth to view the 2017 North American Solar Eclipse. Signs were erected around the city declaring this status, some of which can still be spotted today.
For a time, the city transformed into Eclipseville and was filled with over a dozen festivals and events, with local businesses embracing the incoming totality. The estimated economic impact on the city was approximately $28 million, with over 100,000 visitors coming through Christian County. At the time, the City of Hopkinsville reported that people came from 47 different states, three U.S. Territories and 25 different countries.
According to previous reports from Clarksville Now, the area was so congested, that cell service was an issue. This led to AT&T deploying its Mega COW, short for “cell on wheels,” to boost network capacity by as much as 300 percent at a farm just outside of Hopkinsville. In anticipation of large crowds, Kentucky Emergency Management also activated a Regional Response Coordination Center in the city for safety purposes.
While the 2017 event was the first total eclipse in nearly 40 years, in April 2024 the country was able to witness yet another eclipse in Kentucky, with path of totality passing over nearby Paducah this time. A beautiful partial eclipse was still visible, with locally events planned in an attempt to relive that magic from 2017.
| FIND US ON SOCIAL MEDIA: Follow Christian County Now on Facebook