WESTMORE –– The Westmore community at Willoughby Lake is organizing a free, three-day Eclipse Festival at the Fellowship Hall on Hinton Hill Road from April 5 to 7, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. each day.
Attendees can visit vendors, view scientific information about the moon, sun, and eclipses, and enjoy unique artwork depicting lunar phases and eclipses.
Guest astronomer Bill Vinton, a physics and astronomy teacher at St. Johnsbury Academy and president of the Northeast Kingdom Astronomy Foundation, will conduct a workshop with a Galileoscope telescope on Saturday from 12:30 p.m. to 3 p.m.
The east side of Willoughby Lake offers several prime viewing locations, including the Church Park on the lakeshore and Sentinel State Park atop Hinton Hill Road.
On Monday, the community church will hold a vigil, prayer, and blessing starting at 11:30 a.m., led by Reverend Bob Leibold.
The eclipse will begin at 2:15 p.m., with totality occurring at 3:37 p.m. and lasting for three minutes. The entire eclipse cycle will last two hours and 15 minutes, ending at 4:38 p.m.
During totality, the sky will darken, and viewers along the path of totality may see the sun’s corona if weather permits. The next total solar eclipse visible in the area will not occur until 2044.
