Hundreds of residents in the Port Jervis area came to witness a historic solar eclipse at a public viewing event at Riverside Park on April 8.
Despite uncooperative clouds, most viewers got a glimpse of the sun when the moon covered nine-tenths of it—the maximum eclipse observable in the area.
“You can see the shadow of the moon taking over the sun, which is pretty amazing,” Port Jervis Middle School science teacher Randall Wright said. Using a microphone from a raised platform, he explained the theory behind the eclipse to the viewing public.
“Make a shadow with your hands,” Mr. Wright said. “All shadows right now will show a chunk taken out of them—anything on the ground that has a shadow will have a little piece taken out of it.”
It was his idea to have a public viewing event in the city, and it came to fruition with the support of Port Jervis Recreation Department Director John Faggione.
“I missed the last eclipse when I was 8 years old because it was a cloudy day,” Mr. Wright told The Epoch Times. “This is going to be the biggest eclipse of our life.
“The next one that is going to hit Port Jervis will be in 2079—that makes me 101 years old.”
While his wife and children had gone to the Whiteface Mountain region for a rare total eclipse experience, Mr. Wright chose to stay behind for the public viewing event.
In addition to his scientific mind, he brought to the event viewing glasses, handmade shadow-making objects from his students, and pizza.
Town of Deerpark resident Dianne Mazza brought four children to witness the eclipse; two of them were her foster children and the other two were her adopted children.
“I wanted to see it—it is kind of historic,” Ms. Mazza told The Epoch Times.
“It is a tremendous, tremendous turnout, and we are very, very happy for that,” Mr. Faggione told The Epoch Times, adding that about 100 pairs of free viewing glasses were made available.
The Port Jervis City School District had an early dismissal for students to observe the solar eclipse, and the local police department also contributed audio equipment and an officer presence.
Mr. Faggione said the recreation department will present two upcoming outdoor events: the Midnight Endurance Relay on April 20 and the Delaware River Run on April 30.
