Skies over Norfolk clear just in time for solar eclipse

As eclipse day dawned, the mood in Port Dover was as muted as the grey skies overhead.

“Little worried about those clouds,” Jeremy Voltz said while digging into a plate of eggs at a Main Street diner around 8:30 a.m.

Voltz and his wife, Amie Everett, drove to Norfolk County on Sunday to get into the path of totality ahead of Monday’s total solar eclipse.

“We know friends in town who we could stay with,” Voltz said. “And we don’t have to pay $800 for a hotel, which is great.”

Hundreds of others had the same idea.

Norfolk had not been as well-publicized an eclipse-watching destination as Niagara or Hamilton. But day passes to Long Point Provincial Park were sold out by Friday, and people flocked to Lake Erie from all parts of Ontario — plus Michigan and New York — in hopes of witnessing what Everett called “the wonder and splendour of nature.”

Brothers Eduardo Tarasca and Pablo Maurano followed the forecast from their hometown of Richmond Hill along the Erie shoreline from Port Colborne, finally ending up on the Dover beach with multiple cameras trained at the sky in hopes the clouds would part over the water.

“It was kind of the sweet spot where it looks like the weather is going to break just in time,” Maurano said.

With the eclipse virtually passing over their Toronto-area home, the brothers felt compelled to give chase.

“Eclipses don’t really happen in this neck of the woods too often, so if it’s so close that you can get to the totality, try to,” Tarasca said.

“You never really know until the day of. We’ll see what we get. But if it does clear up and you get the chance to see it, it’d be good to get your eyes on it.”

In Simcoe, residents brought blankets and baseballs to Wellington Park to picnic on the grass while waiting for the moon to traverse the sun.

Maureen and Keith Shields flew in from Alberta to watch the eclipse in Norfolk — a not entirely random destination, as they also visited their daughter and grandchildren in Simcoe.

“We’ve been planning this for more than a year,” Keith Shields said.

Twila Smith said having her parents on hand raised “the excitement factor” for their family.

“I think seeing my kids’ emotion is what I’m most excited for,” Smith said.

“Watching the wonder through my kids’ eyes is always a real joy for me when they experience new things.”

Eleven-year-old Clayton Smith had his eclipse glasses at the ready.

“I’ve been counting the days,” he said.

“I’m excited because it’s going to be a once-in-a-lifetime chance.”

A small patch of blue sky overhead offered hope around noon. An hour later, sunshine erupted over Norfolk, prompting a fresh wave of cars to head for the county.

Stargazers stuck in traffic pulled over on rural back roads and held impromptu tailgate parties as the eclipse began.

At the Waterford Heritage and Agricultural Museum, scores of families from Norfolk and beyond — including Hamilton, Windsor and the Greater Toronto Area — dropped in to make eclipse-themed crafts before taking in the celestial marvel from the highest point in Norfolk.

The street lights flickered on as darkness descended over Waterford, the crowd outside the museum gasping as the moon obscured the sun, exposing the star’s corona.

Sitting wide-eyed on the grass, his Paw Patrol stuffed animal still wearing its eclipse glasses, three-year-old Atticus Schuiling had one thing to say after gazing awestruck at the first solar eclipse of his young life: “I wanna do it again.”

J.P. Antonacci, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Hamilton Spectator