Experience a once-in-a-lifetime event in Cabot, Arkansas! On April 8, 2024, Cabot is in the path of totality for a total solar eclipse. For nearly three minutes, the afternoon sky will go dark as the moon passes between the sun and the Earth.
During a total solar eclipse, the moon lines up perfectly to obscure the sun, creating "totality". At the time of totality, the sky will become dark, and the sun’s corona (or outer atmosphere) will be visible. During the 2024 total solar eclipse, nearly everyone in North America will see some part of the eclipse, but only those who live in or travel to the path of totality will experience all stages of this rare event. The difference between a total and partial eclipse is out of this world: if even one percent of the sun is visible during an eclipse, the sun is 10,000 times too bright to observe the most spectacular part - totality!
A total solar eclipse is perhaps the most spectacular astronomical event that can be witnessed from Earth, and it can only be observed from some parts of the globe. Cabot will be one of the few locations to see every stage of this awe-inspiring event. Plan your trip now to observe this phenomenon with us in Cabot, Arkansas!
This eclipse will be the last total solar eclipse visible from the contiguous United States until 2044. To follow the path of the eclipse, check out this website from NASA.
Here are the times for those in Cabot to start watching, according to EclipseArkansas.org:
Start time of Partial Eclipse: 12:34:21 PM
Start time of Totality: 1:52:17
Duration of Totality: 2m 36.7s
Is Your Business Planning an Eclipse Event?
Are you having a local event or plan on hosting a viewing location for the 2024 Eclipse in Cabot or the Cabot/Austin/Ward area? If you so, we want to know about it! Please fill out and submit the form below as we get ready to celebrate this once-in-a-lifetime event in the Cabot, Arkansas. If your event or viewing location is listed as private this information will be shared only with the Cabot Emergency Planning Committee.
Tips for Businesses
Eclipse Begins: Monday, April 8
Anticipated Days: Friday, April 5 – Tuesday, April 9
Cabot expects a large increase in visitors throughout the weekend leading up to Monday's celestial event. This could be a great opportunity for our local businesses, however, preparedness will be crucial for this event. Grocery stores, gas stations, hotels, restaurants, coffee shops, retail stores, urgent care/walk-in clinics, and many other establishments will experience heavier than normal business.
What You Can Do To Prepare Your Business:
- Back-up Plans: Prepare for an increase in customers; have needed supplies on hand and have them delivered early; consider extending hours of operation to meet customer needs and have back-up plans if staff is delayed due to traffic.
- Employee Preparedness: Encourage employees to have a full tank of gas; have their own resources ready at home; day care needs are met, etc. by April 5th. Gas stations may be very busy or may be waiting on resupply. Make sure your staff can get to work, so give them reminders to plan ahead and share the “Tips for Residents” page.
- Cash/Financial Transactions:
- Be prepared for more cash transactions; consider having extra tills set up to accommodate more cash transactions. You may have larger than normal deposits over the weekend. Check ahead of time if your bank will be open on Monday, April 8th.
- How does your credit/debit card machine access the internet? If you use cell service/cell wireless service for your transactions, be prepared with a backup plan. We anticipate a high demand for cellular service during the impact period, especially Monday, the 8th. You may find you are not able to make transactions; have a backup plan to meet your customers’ needs.
- Communications: Anticipate possible cellular connectivity issues due to the increased demand. Visitors may have urgent requests to use your landline business phone if cell service is limited; decide how you
want to handle these requests and make sure employees know what to do. If it is a 911 emergency and you have a landline…be ready to help! - Regularly Scheduled Deliveries: Evaluate when you receive your regular deliveries. We highly encourage businesses to consider rescheduling for Tuesday, April 9 or order extra the week before.
- Restrooms: Be aware many visitors will be camping in authorized and potentially unauthorized locations; expect customers who may be primarily interested in using business restrooms. Public restrooms will be in short supply and port-a-potties in limited locations may be at capacity until service providers can empty them.
- Weather and Your Business: If conditions are foggy, visitors with hotel reservations will most likely not change their plans, but the “day trippers” may move to more optimal viewing; there is no way to predict this but monitoring the weather the week to 10 days prior to April 8th could be very useful for your business.