I first heard a few months ago about the solar eclipse that will be visible in Greenville on August 21. I thought, “Oh cool, that will be fun to see,” and I put a note about it on my calendar. Little did I know the hysteria that would be brought on our city by this obscure astronomical phenomenon.
A few weeks ago, it was brought to my attention that people were traveling to Greenville from outside the country to see the eclipse. Since then, I’ve heard of several people from out of town taking a vacation to the Upstate to see the event, and many Greenville hotels are already sold out for the evening of August 20. I probably shouldn’t have been surprised by the hysteria, considering the SC General Assembly actually voted to allow the public schools to start the school year earlier in the month in order for teachers to instruct their students on the eclipse. (In other news, the General Assembly isn’t too busy these days…)
SC emergency officials have begun sounding the alarm that we’re going to have visitors. Lots of them. Expect traffic, grocery-shortages, and long lines at local restaurants. You may even want to go ahead and buy your bread and milk the Friday before the eclipse. (Come on, we all know that it’s a rite of passage in the South to buy bread and milk whenever something weird is about to happen with the weather, or in this case with the sun.)
So what will you be doing on August 21 at 2:38 PM? There are a bunch of options, which are conveniently laid out on Greenville Online and a variety of other publications. Me? Besides my normal Monday schedule of researching real estate, showing some houses, and doing all the REALTOR® stuff, I’ll probably watch the eclipse from a comfortable perch away from the crowds while enjoying my milk and bread sandwich.