'Nothing that compares': Economic spinoffs from eclipse worth the hype for N.B. communities
Early indications suggest the hype for Monday’s total solar eclipse was worth it in New Brunswick.
“There’s absolutely nothing that compares to what I’ve seen this past weekend here,” says Paul McGraw, an organizer with Miramichi’s economic and tourism department who’s helped run local events for close to 30 years. “It was just phenomenal to see the breadth of the people we had, let alone the numbers.”
Eclipse chasers who ran out the clock weighing weather forecasts and totality times were arriving in Miramichi on Monday afternoon, just ahead of the spectacle.
“We had private charter jets that were landing at the airport and sitting on the tarmac,” says McGraw. “The farthest we know came from the San Francisco-Oakland area in California.”
McGraw says a conservative estimate of about 12,000 people watched the eclipse at Miramichi Airport, where a running tally was kept of where drivers were coming from.
“You see people from all over the northeastern United States,” says McGraw. “On the viewing day we had one vehicle that registered from western Australia.”
Betty Lanigan was in Miramichi for the eclipse, visiting from Ireland on Monday.
“We were going to go to San Diego and maybe just follow the path of totality and see which would be the best,” Lanigan told CTV on Monday. “And when we followed the path and realized it was going to come up through New Brunswick it was a no brainer, we had to come here.”
Andrew Harvey, mayor of the District of Carleton North, says Monday’s eclipse was the biggest event to ever happen in the rural region.
“We’re very fortunate we were able to showcase the area, and work with other communities too,” says Harvey. “We worked with Woodstock, Hartland, Southern Victoria and Tobique Valley on this initiative.”
The influx of visitors was easy to spot in several communities.
“I saw license plates on the street here from Nova Scotia, from Maine, from New Hampshire, from Maryland, from Pennsylvania, they were from all over,” says downtown Woodstock business owner Woody Milbury.
Hotels in Miramichi, Woodstock, Florenceville-Bristol, and Fredericton reported no-vacancy on Sunday and Monday.
Several New Brunswick communities held days of special eclipse related events.
Mary Ellen Hudson of Tourism Fredericton says events under the city’s ‘EclipseFest’ banner were at capacity, calling it “a great early kick off to our tourism season.”
In Miramichi, McGraw says the immediate economic effect of accommodations and meals could help cover losses from this past winter’s rough tourism season, while setting the stage for summer “to take off with a bang.”
With files from CTV Atlantic’s Crystal Garrett and Alana Pickrell
For more New Brunswick news visit our dedicated provincial page.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Liberal MP says she's leaving politics over disrespectful dialogue, threats, misogyny
Liberal MP Pam Damoff says she won't run again in the next federal election, saying she has experienced misogyny, disrespectful dialogue in politics and threats to her life.
Concerns about Plexiglass prompt inspections at some Loblaws locations in Ottawa
Inspections are underway at more than one Loblaws location in Ottawa after complaints were filed about tall Plexiglass barriers.
Federal employees will be required to spend 3 days a week in the office
Starting in September, public servants in the core public administration will be required to work in the office a minimum of three days a week. The Treasury Board Secretariat says executives will need to be in the office four days per week.
OPP officer said 'someone's going to get hurt' before wrong-way Hwy. 401 crash
As multiple Durham police cruisers were chasing a robbery suspect on the wrong side of Highway 401 Monday night, an Ontario Provincial Police officer shared his concerns, telling a dispatcher, "Someone's going to get hurt."
Ont. woman who faked pregnancy to defraud doulas arrested again on similar charges
Victims of a Brantford, Ont., woman who was sentenced to house arrest earlier this year for defrauding and deceiving doulas say they’re not surprised she’s been apprehended again on similar charges.
Five human skeletons, missing hands and feet, found outside house of Nazi leader Hermann Göring
Archeologists have unearthed the skeletons of five people, missing their hands and feet, at a former Nazi military base in Poland.
Poilievre returns to House unrepentant for calling Trudeau 'wacko,' Speaker not resigning
An unrepentant Pierre Poilievre returned to the House of Commons on Wednesday to pepper the prime minister about his drug decriminalization policies after being booted the day prior for refusing to take back calling Justin Trudeau 'wacko' over his approach to the issue.
Construction begins on LGBTQ2S+ national monument in Ottawa
Shovels have hit the ground for constuction on Canada's LGBTQ2S+ national monument in Ottawa.
B.C. man awarded $5,000 in damages in first-of-it-kind intimate image case
In a first-of-its-kind case, a B.C. tribunal has ruled on a dispute involving the non-consensual sharing of intimate images, awarding damages and issuing orders that the photos be destroyed and taken offline.