FRENCH LICK, Ind. — A little town about an hour and 15 minutes from Louisville, Kentucky is expecting to see massive crowds on April 8, 2024, and small businesses are already making preparations.
At Bear Hollow wood carvers and French Licks ice cream store, a local celebrity held the sun and moon in anticipation of Monday's solar spectacle. Not Larry Bird, but Otis the sasquatch.
"If you're looking for something different and unique," owner Cindy Emmons said, "and art, a fun time and stuff you're not gonna find anywhere else, this is a good spot."
On the Bear Hollow side of the business, they have eclipse coozies, local knick-knacks and chainsaw-carved hunks of wood.
French Licks is offering special sweets too, like an eclipse mocha.
"We're gonna have an eclipse martini for the adults and then we also have eclipse ice cream which is gonna be kind of dark," Emmons said.
A week ahead of the eclipse, French Lick was mostly quiet with few businesses open. The following Monday will be much different. The town center has live music planned for the coming crowds.
Taking phone calls and patting metal furniture, Larry Kalb showed WHAS11 News the rooftop above his restaurant.
"We're trying to get everything done before Friday," he said. "I got a bunch of tables like this that'll be out front. We'll go get them today and set them up with umbrellas."
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Kalb looked forward to his hometown buzzing the whole weekend. He'll see the entire event four stories above his restaurant, Legendz, as what will become a legendary afternoon rolls through.
The little town's charm, he hopes, will bring the cosmic enthusiasts around again.
"If you come visit French Lick, I promise you, you will come back," Kalb said. "If you're in the cities and you hate the hustle and bustle, you come here, it's just laid back."
And like the chalk art, the eclipse won't last forever. The memory, however, just might.
Tourism officials in French Lick urge visitors to come on April 8 prepared with extra supplies like gas, food and water.
Totality begins in the small town at 3:04 p.m. and it will be completely dark for three minutes and five seconds.
The next eclipse comes around on August 23, 2044.
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