RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. — We're now less than three months away from the 2024 solar eclipse and our state is expecting to welcome more than a million visitors.
County and city leaders all over the area are expecting it to be hectic, and both bigger and smaller populated areas have been preparing for the influx of people.
"We as a community of Russellville, just really try to open up our arms and say, Welcome to Russellville. We as a city have tried to embrace it," said Russellville Mayor Fred Teague.
They plan to do that through several events and festivals to entertain the out-of-town crowd.
Mayor Teague said they started planning for the eclipse last January and still have a lot more ahead of them leading up to the historic day.
"Now we're kind of working on nailing down and finalizing out the plan and really getting our citizens aware of what they need to know," he explained.
He also explained how the city of roughly 30,000 is expecting to jump by about a hundred thousand because the city is in the path of totality on April 8th.
Still, he said people shouldn't panic and instead, prepare ahead of the first week of April.
"Make sure you have your pet supplies, your baby food, and get your prescriptions the week before so that you're not going April 8th to get your prescription filled or even that weekend. You know, buy your fuel ahead of time if you can," he added.
He said he's not concerned about the area running out of food or gasoline, but he anticipates slower cell service and more traffic.
Meanwhile, in rural Perry County which has a population of 10,000, Judge Larry Blackmon said he is concerned about having enough gas and food.
"It'll take at least seven to 10 days to restock and get back on a normal cycle of things. So just plan ahead, you know, prepare what you think you're going to need and have that. Literally, be prepared to just stay at home for two or three days," Judge Blackmon said.
With only six gas stations in the county and no traffic signals, he said he's expecting there to be some problems, but overall, his priority is keeping locals and visitors safe while still having a good once-in-a-lifetime experience.
"We've got a plan in place. We're just waiting to implement it and [see] in what impact we need to implement it," he said.
You can find more information on the eclipse in Russellville and Perry County here by clicking both here and here.