Written by Emma Weber // Photo by Eli Dean
The Searcy Community experienced the excitement of being in the path of totality for the eclipse. For events preceding the event to run smoothly, many areas of Searcy had to dedicate time and work to plan and prepare. Events started as early as April 6 at the Pioneer Village open house. On April 7, downtown Searcy came alive with activities during “SUNday” on the Square. Eclipse coordinator Jenna Friday led the effort in the community events and managed many different committees to ensure access for the Searcy Community.
“All of the events did really well,” Friday said. “We were prepared for whatever came our way, which was our mission. From Saturday through Monday we had events going on that saw great numbers for attendance. There were a couple of viewing sites that had low attendance, but overall our events were very successful.”
To ensure these events went safely, Chief of Police Steve Hernadez dedicated time planning and organizing officers to work the event.
“We’ve been meeting for the last two years on this event,” Hernandez said. “The state came in and told us to prepare for two to three times our population increase. My job was to plan for the amount of visitors and keep the community and visitors safe at all the viewing sights and events.”
On Tuesday, April 8, four official viewing sights in Searcy were available to watch the total eclipse. Searcy police had around 50 officers managing these gatherings as well as maintaining normal patrols. The community event center offered entertainment at Galaxy Fest that hosted 10,000-12,000 people from 40 states and 12 countries throughout the day. Although the projected number of visitors did not occur, Hernandez said he was grateful their work kept the community safe.
Additionally, the Searcy Fire Department prepared for maintaining events. Training Captain and EMS Coordinator Corbry Swain said he was pleased with the preparedness of those dedicated to emergency response.
“The eclipse planning committee had a sub-committee that was for Public Works, Police Department, Fire Department, and North Star and we met together at least once every few weeks,” Swain said. “We came up with an accident plan and our department increased those on duty the day before the eclipse, the day of the eclipse, and the day after the eclipse as well as equipping a few vehicles to be first line response vehicles.”
Similar to many towns in the path of totality, the projected number of visitors were not met. This was due to many different factors, some including locals with family in town staying home on eclipse day due to fear of traffic. However, safety in town was the first concern of all who had a part in planning, Swain said.
“We prepared for the worst,” Swain said. “We didn’t have any major incidents thankfully, but we felt that we were pretty adequately prepared to handle the situations even if we did have an influx of people they said we would.”
Businesses in the Searcy area also prepared to engage in the celebrations around town. Multiple businesses extended hours to accommodate the projected amount of visitors as well as made preparations to offer more eclipse themed services. Burrito Day General Manager Chloe Cooper operated the Searcy location during the eclipse and said she enjoyed the community engagement.
“A while back, like maybe sixish months ago, the owners of Burrito Day, Brandon and Kari Fox, along with many small business owners in town, began going to city meetings that were all about how they should prepare for the eclipse,” Cooper said. “During the past couple months, we’ve introduced a couple new pieces of merchandise in preparation for the eclipse, including a pretty cool alien abduction tote. We also had special stickers and temporary tattoos for the day. We had very special hours for eclipse weekend. We were open on Sunday and Monday, which was something very new for us, but it was worth it for such a cool occasion.”
