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Mountain Home is in the spotlight again!
Forbes Magazine has listed Mountain Home as one of Arkansas’s top locations to visit during the state’s upcoming solar eclipse on April 8.
It is listed alongside Mena, De Queen, Texarkana, Hot Springs, Little Rock, Conway, Searcy, Jonesboro and more.
“To get recognition by Forbes, always means a lot to a community,” said Mountain Home Mayor Hillrey Adams. “We’ve been gearing up for this year’s eclipse since 2022. There’s been a lot of stuff going on with it. It’s a great recognition to get. We’re looking forward to the increased traffic we’re going to see in the community.”
This April’s eclipse will mark the United States’s third solar eclipse in the 21st century, with no other eclipse occurring in the U.S. again until 2044. Mountain Home and Baxter County will be under total darkness next April for over three minutes due to being in the path of full totality.
Mountain Home will be under total darkness for 3 minutes and 10 seconds. Norfork will see the most time under darkness with an impressive 3 minutes and 40 seconds.
The eclipse path will be between 116 to 118 miles wide. The entire event will last around 15 minutes as the eclipse travels across the state.
State officials expect over 2 million eclipse viewers to descend on Arkansas, as the state has some of the least amount of light pollution along the eclipse path, allowing tourists and residents to experience total darkness in rural areas of the state.
Baxter County officials are expecting the county’s population to surge anywhere between 150,000 to 250,000 people in the weekend leading up to the eclipse. Several eclipse tracking websites, including GreatAmericanEclipse.com, estimate some 84,000 to 337,0000 visitors will drive to the path of the eclipse on April 8.
The Arkansas Department of Transportation estimates some 1.5 million additional road users, including 500,000 Arkansans in other parts of the state, to drive to the location of the eclipse on the big day.
Local officials and business leaders in the community are split over how the surge of potential people will affect local cities within the county, with some expecting local businesses and services to be strained, while others insist the surge will have roughly the same impact as the surge of vacationers that descend on the Twin Lakes every summer.
A video of what the eclipse will look like in Mountain Home can be seen below.
In October of last year, Baxter Health held a Tabletop Drill with local governments and community leaders to prepare for 2024’s eclipse. That drill saw attendees run through a series of questions to help focus on what challenges first responders and leadership expected to face over the entire eclipse.
According to Mayor Adams, the City of Mountain Home is ahead of the curb on maintaining public safety for the event, due to several years of planning.
Why Mountain Home?
Mountain Home offers eclipse viewers one of the best spots in the state to view April’s event. Not only does the city offer over three minutes of viewing time, but it also offers quality amenities in the forms of hotels, resorts, restaurants and pubs, fun activities and shopping.
Some stand out amenities include Rapp’s Barren Brewery, the city’s downtown entertainment district, various parks, Mountain Mystery Escapes, Crush Wine Bar and more.
Mountain Home is also located next to Norfork Lake’s sandy beaches, offering visitors a chance to experience “the beach” while viewing the eclipse.
“Mountain Home offers something completely unique in my opinion,” said Mountain Home Chamber of Commerce President Dani Pugsley. “When you come here, you have the ability to watch the eclipse from the water, which is very unique. Or you can view it from one of the other mini locations in town. I know multiple places are offering camping and different activities that are going on. Essentially, you have the ability to spread out. You’re not going to be watching it with a million other people like in some of the other larger cities like Hot Springs and Russellville.”
In the weekend leading up to the event, ASUMH will open its doors to music lovers by hosting a Big Bad Voodoo Daddy concert on April 6. And that’s not all, over the same weekend, Mountain Home’s Baker District will be hosting a block party for the Final Four college basketball tournament that is set to run from April 6-8.
On the big day, the Baxter County Airport will be hosting a Fly-In event for pilots who are looking for a place to watch the eclipse. ASUMH will also be opening its campus to local residents and visitors during the eclipse, offering those in town some much-needed space to stretch out.
For those local residents who need a pair of eclipse glasses for the big day in April, the Mountain Home Chamber of Commerce has you covered. The Chamber is currently selling glasses for $1.50 for the public and $1 flat for Chamber members. They are also selling commemorative t-shirts for the big event.
The Chamber’s glasses were branded and packaged with help from Dr. Rob Connor. All t-shirts were produced locally.
