“Adapt and Overcome.”

It's not exactly “Live Free or Die” as a rallying cry, but the slogan, offered by a Shelburne official, resonated with leaders and business owners of that Chittenden County town who were seeking a way to get a grip on a happening totally beyond human control: a total solar eclipse.

“We’re 69 days out," Michael Hibben said at an ad hoc meeting he organized on January 30, devoted to the eclipse that will darken Vermont skies in April. He had prepared a slideshow for the occasion titled “Solar Eclipse Countdown: Getting Shelburne Ready for April 8, 2024.”



This community of 7,800 sits astride Route 7, eight miles south of Burlington, smack in the heart of the coveted "path of totality" — prime viewing for sun-worshippers. Or, as some Cassandras caution, the town might be trapped on a hellish path of mind-boggling traffic jams; hordes parking willy-nilly, impromptu potty stops; and mountains of unsorted trash.

Choose your acronym: FUBAR, SNAFU, BOHICA. Perhaps it will rain, or snow. Or everything will be fine! Remember Y2K?

The thing is: Nobody knows. How do you plan for an astronomical unicorn?

A single town, but Shelburne stands as a proxy for the many municipalities in the state attempting to prepare for an event that virtually no one who’s doing the planning has ever experienced. An estimated 399,000 Vermonters reside in the path of totality, nearly two-thirds of the population. Out-of-state visitor estimates to northern Vermont range from 36,000 to 145,000. “But I’ve heard predictions as high as 250,000,” Hibben said.

There is no central organizing body — a Celestial Planning Authority, if you will — so it falls to the state’s towns and villages to avoid a mass meltdown.

Named last August as the new director of Shelburne’s Pierson Library, Hibben has quickly inserted himself into the town’s leadership with his enthusiastic and energetic embrace of programs and projects. No one questioned his calling and leading the meeting, along with community development coordinator Kit Luster. In fact, everyone seemed pleased that someone was taking charge.

Some 30 public safety personnel and representatives of local institutions and businesses showed up, including staff from the Shelburne Museum, Fiddlehead Brewing, Shelburne Farms, Shelburne Vineyard, Wake Robin Life Plan Retirement Community and Shelburne Farm Market.

The eclipse in Shelburne is forecast to begin at 2:14 p.m. and reach totality for three minutes and four seconds starting at 3:26 p.m. It’ll all be over by 4:37 p.m. But that two-and-a-half-hour span could pose profound problems for small towns like Shelburne.

One speaker noted that Vermont was within three-hour driving distance of tens of millions of potential visitors. “So if it’s nice, clear weather,” he explained “the eclipse hunters will hop in the car and make a day trip out of it” — and add to the masses already in place.

Jeff Lawson, the tourism vice president of the marketing group Hello Burlington, reported that most of the hotels and motels in the corridor between Shelburne and Burlington are booked, even at inflated rates, and required two- to three-night minimum stays.

Burlington will have several main viewing sites, including at Waterfront and Battery parks, with an expected crowd of 35,000, Lawson said. A ticketed event will be held at ECHO Leahy Center for Lake Champlain. Roads leading to viewing areas will be closed and shuttles will be provided. Safe-viewing glasses will be available weeks before the event.

In South Burlington, the Higher Ground nightclub is planning a solar eclipse after-party concert.

Asked about the Queen City’s planning progress, Lawson suggested that Burlington was slightly ahead of Shelburne but “two years behind” Texas and Arkansas, states also in the path of totality that can virtually guarantee clear skies that day. Vermont’s chances of going cloudless hover around 25 percent.



“This is the weirdest thing I’ve ever done,” Lawson admitted. “Something where we have no choice of time or place. Nobody owns this thing — you can’t rope off a section of the sky.”
Shelburne Police Chief Michael Thomas echoed that sentiment, almost casually mentioning that he would be fortunate to have all eight of the town’s officers on duty that day. “People might not only be parking by the road but camping there,” he said.

Crowd and traffic control is challenging enough when summer concerts are staged on the museum grounds, he added. So what might happen with cars exiting simultaneously onto Route 7 from all the venues holding viewing parties? “It could be chaos,” Thomas said.

“So no crowd control or cloud control,” quipped Ken Albert, managing partner of Shelburne Vineyard.

Hibben chose to emphasize the sunny side of E-Day, encouraging restaurateurs to reverse usual practice and stay open that Monday. The appeal to eateries triggered a proposal to print a giveaway map so that visitors could easily find fuel, food and parking.

Parking was an intractable elephant in the room. Ticketed events at Shelburne Museum, Fiddlehead and Vermont Teddy Bear will provide parking for their paying guests. Director of advancement Leslie Wright said the Shelburne Museum expects to sell about 2,500 tickets to its viewing party. But there will only be about 600 parking spots available in the gravel lots — the time of year rules out the vast fields used for summer concert parking.

Ah, mud season. Another factor leading to dire predictions of traffic tie-ups and free-range parking. Several speakers at the meeting noted that, typically, eclipse tourists tend to hit the road immediately after the moon shadow disappears.

“How about the Shelburne airport?” someone asked, thinking tarmac runways.

“I didn’t even know there was a Shelburne airport,” Hibben admitted.

“It’s grass!” shouted an audience member. “And it's privately owned.”

“Prepare for a very long day,” Lawson said, darkly.

Determined to conclude on an upbeat note, Hibben detailed plans for Shelburne’s own free-to-residents party at the town’s athletic fields and field house, featuring farm market vendors, free eclipse viewing glasses and a DJ. “We’re going to play Pink Floyd’s seminal album Dark Side of the Moon in its entirety, ending at the moment of totality,” he said gleefully.

What do people at a meeting do when all the issues aren’t resolved — or at least beaten into submission? They agree to hold another meeting. That’s the only thing certain, for now. Adapt and overcome.

63 days out.