CLARKSVILLE, Ark. — Many local businesses in Arkansas can breathe a sigh of relief now that the eclipse has come and gone. While some areas were satisfied with the turnout of visitors, others say they were underwhelmed.
For over a year, city officials and businesses in Arkansas on the path of totality have prepared for what they expected to be a weekend packed with tourists and locals for the 2024 Great American Eclipse.
Clarksville, a small Arkansas town that experienced totality, says they were pleased with the turnout.
"I learned that our community is capable of a lot more than what we like give ourselves credit being a smaller community. We all banded together— the chamber, the city, the county. Everyone really came together to make this work," Chamber of Commerce Vice President Abby Tucker said.
Tucker said their event in the downtown area helped stimulate the local businesses. One local restaurant, Daddy’s Smacking Wings and Things confirmed the positive experience.
"We prepared a week before, got ourselves ready, and everything flowed out just right," George Jones, the kitchen manager, said.
Not every business can say the same. Wood Grill Buffet restaurant near Little Rock says they and many other restaurant owners were underwhelmed with the turnout and even lost revenue after buying so much food to prepare.
"We fed 85 people in nine hours. There are a lot of hours that we feed that many people on regular business, so it was really disappointing," Wood Grill Buffet's owner Elgin Hamner said.
Hamner says he believes the low numbers had to do with locals choosing to stay home throughout the weekend leading up to the eclipse on Monday to avoid all the tourists.
"I think it was a significant amount of people [that stayed home] because I had people reach out to me from other cities in the restaurant business and some of their stories were much worse than ours," he said.
Hamner’s restaurant lost around $6,000 in revenue last week. He says recovery for his restaurant and many others could take four to six weeks or longer.
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