As promised in my Solar Eclipse 2024 Guide, here is a roundup of all the events I know about happening in select cities in central and south central Indiana (where I live and from where I am most likely to experience the eclipse).
Please remember there are expected to be hundreds of thousands of people (maybe even a full million) coming to Indiana for the eclipse. You read that right: of the bigger cities besides Indianapolis, which is expecting several hundred thousand alone, Bloomington is expecting at least 300,000; Columbus 50-200,000; and Franklin 50-200,000. Almost everywhere is sold out of hotel and vacation lodging already and what's left is very expensive, though many camping options are still available. These numbers double, triple, or quadruple the current population living in these smaller towns. For context, Bloomington has about 80,000 people, Columbus about 50,000, and Franklin about 25,000.
Keep in mind: for most of these towns, with smaller population bases, the infrastructure is simply not there to handle this kind of vehicle traffic - all of these towns have mostly one or two lane roads, limited parking areas in high traffic areas like downtowns, high numbers of one way streets or other unusual traffic patterns visitors will not be familiar with, bridges that dictate only one or two ways in or out of town, etc. Many events will likely be VERY crowded and traffic will be rough. Give yourself plenty of time to get wherever you want to go. For those of us local to these spots, I highly encourage you to simply watch from your own house OR walk/bike to where you want to watch from, if able, instead of use a car.
For everyone, please be VERY CAREFUL while driving, walking, or biking in the days leading up to and day of the eclipse, in particular. There will be thousands of people driving who are unfamiliar with where they are going or the unique traffic patterns (especially in the downtowns). First responders will be maxed out and so will the urgent cares and hospital ERs. Restaurants will be full. Be patient, be kind, be the welcoming Midwesterners we are known to be. I do think traffic will die down very quickly beginning Tuesday, but from Thursday or Friday until late Monday night, things will likely be a mess. My best guess is we'll see traffic start to pick up about a week before, ramp way up over the weekend, and die back down almost immediately as people have to go back to work/school. Get your groceries early and errands run before Thursday, if you at all can. People who have to be at work on the 8th...give yourself plenty of time to get there, especially if you need to use any of the major roads in town.
If you are traveling somewhere or do want to go out to events on Eclipse Day (Monday, April the 8th), I would suggest picking just one event to attend day-of. Some events are multi-day so you could potentially be able to attend one or more things on the days surrounding the eclipse.
Cities below are ones that I either expect to watch the eclipse from or have friends who live there who might benefit from this round up. They are listed in the order I'll be making the list in. I will do my best to keep these updated. Please let me know what I missed. Most places have their own city-managed eclipse website roundups as well (which I'll link to), though from what I'm seeing online, not everything is listed on the city pages.
These will be links to their own pages as I get them created (check back if your town isn't here yet):
Columbus, Hope, Taylorsville, Edinburgh & Surrounding Bartholomew County
North Vernon & Surrounding Jennings County
If I have enough time, I'll add these and take requests for others:
Nashville & Surrounding Brown County
Bloomington, Ellettsville & Surrounding Monroe County
Spencer & Surrounding Owen County
Greencastle & Surrounding Putnam County
Franklin, Greenwood & Surrounding Johnson County
Indianapolis & Surrounding Marion County
Greensburg & Surrounding Decatur County
Seymour & Surrounding Jackson County
Shelbyville & Surrounding Shelby County
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