With the approach of the total solar eclipse on August 21, 2017 passing right over Platte County, residents are likely to see a population increase like never before in the community.
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With the approach of the total solar eclipse on August 21, 2017 passing right over Platte County, residents are likely to see a population increase like never before in the community.
The eclipse will be the first that can be viewed from the contiguous United States since 1979, and locals are estimating an exponential increase in the local population over the eclipse weekend.
On June 22, a Business and Public Eclipse Huddle was held, where locals could discuss concerns about the population hike the eclipse will bring, and find ways to properly prepare. The Huddle was led by Kit Armour, Director of the Platte County Chamber of Commerce, Terry Stevenson with Platte County Emergency Management, and Jeannette Kaufman with Platte County Public Health.
“We do anticipate that people will start coming in on the weekend before and stay until the weekend after (the eclipse),” Armour said.
It’s expected that the majority of the population hike will take place starting on the weekend prior, as well as the day of, the eclipse.
“Look at the Front Range, two to three hours away from us, four million people,” Armour said. “If just two percent of them get in their car, that’s 80,000 people. Just different ways to think about that to consider the magnitude of what we are potentially dealing with.”