Hot Springs National Park is one of only two national parks in America that will be in the “path of totality” for the April 2024 total eclipse of the sun.
“That’s pretty cool,” said Bill Solleder, marketing director for Visit Hot Springs. “What better place to view this once-in-a-lifetime phenomenon than a city that has a national park, mountains, hundreds of lodging, camping, RV, and short-term rental opportunities, 200 dining establishments, dozens of attractions, three lakes, and a citizenry that knows how to treat visitors like celebrities?”
Hot Springs and Cuyahoga Valley are the only full-fledged national parks in the path. Hot Springs is dead center in the path of totality, which is the narrow strip of the country in which the sun will be totally dark.
Visit Hot Springs has been planning for the April 8, 2024 eclipse since 2020, when the event’s path across America was made public.
“In 2017, the last solar eclipse visible from North America, Casper, Wyoming, saw a million people flood into their little town because Casper was in the path of totality,” Solleder said. “They were completely unprepared to accommodate an influx of that size. Solleder said Visit Hot Springs, with creative work by Marisa Rodgers, the agency’s digital media manager, has created a “micro-website” that has a countdown clock and links that can be used to connect with Visit Hot Springs to locate lodging and other information to begin planning for a trip to the city for the eclipse. The micro-website is at http://www.totaleclipsearkansas.com/.
