Where Will You Be For the GREAT TOTAL ECLIPSE of 2024?

by Grayling Holmes

If you’re reading this right now, you have just FOUR days to get ready for a total solar eclipse that will span a huge path across the entire country. Yes, you say, I just saw one seven years ago when the same thing happened in 2017. But since totality is a rare occurrence, you won’t get the chance to see this happen for another 20 years. And, let’s face it, some of us may not be around in 2044.

St. Louis is extremely close to the path of totality for this cosmic event. We will have 99% totality, with just a small sliver of the sun left. 99% is good enough for me. I have to work on Monday. But I do get a break sometimes, and I’m going to take a two-or-three hour one on Monday and go to one of many watch parties around town. I thought about having one of my own, but what’s the fun in that. I’m a social butterfly. I want to be where the action is, around people. I even asked my buddies Alex Guiterrez and Russell Jackson to host one at their Central West End mansion, but Alex has other plans and Russell’s got to work on a big class action lawsuit. Wouldn’t a Portland Place Eclipse Watch Party be grand? Maybe Russell can pop out of his home office and go into his courtyard for a few moments. But he better turn on the lights in the house when he’s working, because it’s going to be dark for hours.

The solar eclipse will begin around 12:35pm, St. Louis time, and reach 99% totality at 1:55pm in most areas. It will end around 3:14pm, plenty of time to get back to the office and finish off the workday, or maybe put in a few extra hours.

Unlike the 2017 eclipse, which only lasted for minutes, It will be dark for about two hours for the 2024 eclipse. That means it’s time to party like it’s night time. There will be watch parties all around town, and within a hundred or so mile radius of St. Louis. You have four days to plan your own way to see this astronomical occurrence. Please email me at digitalstl@slmag.net and send me an invite, if you’re having one and I might swing by. Oh, and hope you don’t mind if I bring my little Malchi doggies, Sherlock and Dr. Watson. I hooked them up with canine eclipse glasses too (available on Amazon). I don’t want their little bitty retinas to burn up. Btw, you should get some glasses as well. You never want to look directly at the sun without protection.

It’s time to party like it’s 2024! Following are a few places to have fun watching this celestial anomaly with others in St. Louis, and some nearby towns where you can watch it in TOTALITY. Watch the short PBS video below and it will tell you why it’s such a big deal.

Towns Closest to St. Louis for Eclipse TOTALITY

Carbondale, Illinois

Cape Girardeau, Missouri

Effingham, Illinois

Perryville, Illinois

Polpar Bluff, Missouri

Watch Parties In St. Louis

Source : St. Louis Post Dispatch

Boone’s Trail Branch Library

Children, pre-K through fifth grade and families are welcome to watch the eclipse at this Wentzville library. After the excitement is over, the little ones can make a cute craft model of the eclipse. Glasses will be provided.

Brentwood Park

  • Where: 2924 Brazeau Avenue, Brentwood

  • How much: Free

  • More info: brentwoodmo.org

Games, crafts and free glasses in a bucolic suburban park. Does it get any better than that? It might, if you want to enjoy it all with shaved ice from a truck, which will be on hand to satisfy the needs of everyone with a sweet tooth.

Cahokia Mounds

The largest pre-Columbian site north of Mexico won’t have the live music of some other venues, but the gift shop will be open with an extensive line-up of commemorative eclipse-branded souvenirs, including T-shirts, hats, bandanas, stickers (bumper and otherwise), refrigerator magnets, Christmas-tree ornaments and overpriced ($16!) eclipse glasses. Plus, you know, all the history.

City Museum

  • Where: 750 North 16th Street

  • How much: $28 (general admission plus rooftop access)

  • More info: citymuseum.org

This is your chance to view the eclipse with a 24-foot metal sculpture of a praying mantis, or perhaps from the seat of a school bus careening off the roof. Glasses will be provided. And when it’s over, or before it begins, you can still play at the City Museum.

Defiance Ridge Vineyards

How better to watch a near-total solar eclipse than with a glass of wine? It will even look like twilight. The kitchen and bar will be open all day, and free eclipse glasses will be distributed to the first 100 visitors.

Eckert’s Belleville Farm

  • Where: 951 South Green Mountain Road, Belleville

  • How much: Free

  • More info: eckerts.com

The Skylark Brothers Band will provide the music for this eclipse-watching party, which will also have celestial-themed refreshments, card readings, a psychic and more. Some activities will have a fee. Glasses provided while supplies last.

Herald Square

As far as we know, this is the only eclipse-viewing party with a fire-blowing demonstration. Also on tap, so to speak, will be beer and whiskey, cigars, games and a native raptor, plus live music and shopping. Free glasses will be provided.

Lost Hill Lake

This is a chance to enjoy the eclipse in a pastoral setting; the lakeside will also be open for hikes, fishing, kayaking and more. Food and drink will be available, along with other items from various vendors; eclipse glasses will be available for purchase.

Moonrise Hotel

Party on the rooftop — you’ll be that much closer to the eclipse. And you’ll be even closer to what is represented as the largest globe of the moon in the world. The Delmar Loop’s Moonrise Hotel will feature live music, plus eclipse-themed cocktails and food available for purchase.

Pulitzer Arts Foundation

Watch the eclipse from the park-like grounds of Park-Like, the mini nature preserve just next to the Pulitzer Arts Foundation. Bring your own blankets or chairs, or you can use theirs. Before or after the eclipse itself you can take in the museum’s current exhibits or pay tribute to the late Richard Serra’s enduring sculpture, “Joe.” Free glasses will be provided.

St. Louis Central Library

  • Where: 1301 Olive Street

  • How much: Free

  • More info: slpl.org

This one is for the kids only, from kindergarten through sixth grade. Free glasses will be provided.

St. Louis Riverfront Cruise

  • Where: Middle of the Mississippi River; boat boards at 50 South Leonor K. Sullivan Boulevard

  • When: Boat boards at 1:30 p.m.

  • How much: $24, $22 seniors 60 and older, $14 children 3-15

  • More info: gatewayarch.com

The Tom Sawyer riverboat’s usual 1:30 p.m. cruise will be different this time, and its view of the eclipse, or certainly the circumstances, will be unique. It’s a one-hour tour, so the entire trip will be held under skies that will grow darker and then lighter. Free glasses will be provided.

St. Louis Science Center and McDonnell Planetarium

  • Where: 5050 Oakland Avenue (Science Center), Clayton Avenue at Faulkner Drive in Forest Park (Planetarium)

  • How much: Free

  • More info: slsc.org

The Science Center has a bus that is traveling to an undisclosed location in the eclipse’s path of totality, but that is sold out. Still, you can watch the NASA livestream of the eclipse in the comfort of the McDonnell Planetarium, especially if the event itself is obscured by clouds, or you can watch it outside in the GROW gallery or on the planetarium grounds. Free glasses while supplies last.

Washington University

  • Where: Brookings Hall, 1 Brookings Drive, University City

  • How much: Free

  • More info: wustl.edu

Washington University is the place to be if you want to see the eclipse through a solar telescope (the images will be projected onto a computer monitor). One of the telescopes will be able to show textures on the surface of the sun. Glasses will be provided.

Wild Sun Winery & Brewery

With your $10 ticket comes a sample of vintage Port, at least two years old and aged in French oak barrels. It’s even named Eclipse, in honor of the 2017 event. Food and drink will be available, plus live music. Glasses will be provided.

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