Thousands of spectators came to Houlton to view the total solar eclipse Monday. The small town of roughly 6,000 isn't typically a top destination in Maine, but it heavily promoted itself as an ideal place to watch and planned a three-day festival.
It started off slow. A cold, cloudy weekend put a damper on the expected crowds for the first two days of the festival. But community members like Bruce Williams, the pastor of the Greater Houlton Bible Fellowship, remained upbeat Sunday afternoon. Passing out bags of candy on Main Street to a thin crowd, Williams anticipated more would come.
"Being right here in Aroostook County, we're all excited about it," Williams said. "We love having people come. We really do. We think we've got a little piece of heaven here on earth. So, it's nice to share it with other people."
And one of the basics of being a good host is making sure people are well fed, which presented a dilemma as Houlton planned for the eclipse, says Mary Beth DiMarco.
"When the town was organizing to get ready for this huge influx of people for the eclipse, we had no idea how this small community was going to feed that many people," she said.
Several churches stepped up to help. At the Church of Good Shepherd, where DiMarco is senior warden, they bought 400 pounds of lobster to make 1,600 meals.
"Well, we're serving the 'Maine Experience' dinner, which includes a Maine lobster roll, a Maine Wicked whoopie pie, Fox family potato chips and a bottle of Poland Spring water.
Judith and Philip Clucas said the rolls were delicious.
"The meat was lovely. The roll was delicious. It was a splendid experience," said Phillip.
They came here to watch the eclipse because they have a special connection — they're from a village close to the other Houlton, in England.
"We're currently in Houlton, Maine, to see the eclipse because it's probably the last one I'll see whilst I'm on this planet," said Philip, "and I'm looking forward to it."
By Monday, thousands of others joined them under sunny skies.
In downtown Market Square, as local radio station WHOU blasted eclipse-themed music, people checked out shops, craft tables and even had a chance to talk to staff from NASA. They came to document the eclipse in the last town in the United States to witness totality, a whole three minutes and 18 seconds worth. Paula Woodworth was one of many volunteer ambassadors roaming the streets to chat with visitors and answer questions. She said seeing the bustling downtown was a relief.
"Yesterday we were like, 'Where is everybody?' But so many people are just driving in today. That's what I've heard from a lot of people I talked to," said Woodworth.
That includes friends Noelle Dakin and Sabrina Varga, from the Bangor area. Dakin said it was too good a chance to pass up.
"You have people traveling from everywhere, and it's like, what are the chances we're in the highest viewing point of the world of being able to see this, and it's right in our back neighborhood?" she said.
Marc Bedard says he and and his friend Skip Walters drove up from York County.
"It's just gonna be great to be with so many people, and seeing it together, and just the reaction of everybody," said Bedard.
By midafternoon, as the moon began to cross over the sun, people put on their eclipse glasses and looked skyward. Their excitement reached a crescendo in the moments leading up to and during totality.
"Oh my god, it's so dark now... oh my god!" shrieked one eclipse-watcher.
Several spectators, including Dana DiCarlo of Sanibel Island Florida, said afterwards that the eclipse moved them to tears.
"You can't describe it," DiCarlo said. "You can read and see pictures, but honestly, you can't describe how you feel when you see the black magic of that corona and that red diamond because it's so unfamiliar."
DiCarlo watched the eclipse with a group of friends, including Peter Heimberg of Virginia. He says they were all wowed by it.
"So they're all talking about, this is what we're going to do in retirement, is chase total solar eclipses around the world," he said as his friends chuckled. "It was beautiful."
But at some point they'd also like to return to Houlton. It's a charming town they said, and it made an impression.
