Nearly 500 people lined up along the outside of the Orange Public Library Monday morning all with the same intent: Be a part of history and view the first eclipse visible only from the United State…
Nearly 500 people lined up along the outside of the Orange Public Library Monday morning all with the same intent: Be a part of history and view the first eclipse visible only from the United States in 99 years.
Cars stretched out into the street as the parking lot filled up nearly an hour before the 10 a.m. viewing at the library was set to begin.
Orange residents Denise and Mike Zellmer arrived before 6 a.m. to guarantee themselves glasses for viewing.
The couple even considered camping overnight and drove by the library after midnight, but went home after not seeing anybody else waiting in line.
“We will never be able to see this again. It’s one thing to see it on a live stream, but it’s much better to be able to view it in person, ” lifelong Orange resident Denise Zellmer said. “There’s nothing like it.”
The library provided nearly 500 glasses for the event. All were accounted for by 9: 30 a.m.
The crowd spread out as people looked toward the sky watching the moon take its place in front of the sun.
“That’s pretty dope. When you put on glasses you can see it, ” a child said from the background, as he put his glasses on for the first time.
Priscilla Malchow, an Orange resident, brought two homemade cardboard viewing devices with her. She got the idea for how to make them after reading a Time Magazine article from the 1960s.
One of the boxes, bigger than her 4-year-old son, was popular as numerous kids took turns putting their heads inside and viewing the reflection of the sun through a hole the size of a pin at the top of the box.
“My kids have been looking forward to it. They learned about it and they wanted to come to the class on Saturday the library had, ” Malchow said. “They watched the Power Point presentation and knew what they were going to see. They were excited for what they were going to see.”
Larry Middendorf, an Orange resident, quickly put together his viewer in about 30 minutes on Monday morning. His device, which was made out of two empty Pringles cans, four red Solo cups, duct tape, plastic bags and a magnified glass, was used to get a better and bigger view of the eclipse.
“Just in case I didn’ t get the glasses, I put this together this morning, ” he said of what he dubbed the ‘Elclipsenator 2017.’ “I have the glasses, but with this I’ m going to get a bigger and better view than I would with just the glasses alone.”
