Photo by Emma Delk Whenever the sun peeked-out from behind the clouds, Grand Vue Park Solar Eclipse Watch Party attendees were ready to look up.

MOUNDSVILLE — All eyes were on the sky at Grand Vue Park when the clouds cleared to give an uncovered view of the solar eclipse during the watch party hosted by the SMART Center, the Near Earth Object Foundation and Grand Vue Park.

More than a thousand eclipse viewers gathered at Shelters 3, 4 and 5 in the park on Monday, eager to get a clear look at the 96.5% magnitude view of the eclipse from 3:16 to 3:17 p.m.

Grand Vue was one of several spots around the area where spectators gathered to observe the event.

SMART Center Owners Robert and Libby Strong were thrilled not only to see the eclipse, but to watch the event that had been years in the making for them go completely as planned.

“After the August 2017 eclipse, we put everything back in boxes and marked them for April 8, 2024,” recalled Robert Strong during Monday’s watch party. “Since then, we’ve been planning and taking the activities we did last eclipse and saying, ‘How can we make this better? Can we add a couple of more activities? What else can we do differently?'”

The couple’s seven years of brainstorming paid-off, as they had 12 eclipse-centered stations at the Grand Vue Park Watch Party for attendees to enjoy.

Some activities gave participants a life-size version of what was happening in the sky. One replica that drew the attention of attendees was a model of the earth/moon system using a basketball as the earth surrounded by a circle of tennis balls that represented the moon.

Many stations were centered around pinhole projection, which is a method of seeing the shape of the eclipse cast in shadows cast through holes in an object. Colanders, spatulas and other hole-filled objects were abundant at these stations for attendees to hold up to white surfaces to see the eclipse projected through.

Other stations at the event gave alternate ways to view what was happening in the sky. Throughout the eclipse, a crowd could be found gathered around a monitor projecting a view of the eclipse using a solar-filter covered telescope with a video camera attached to it.

Friends Jonathan Scott, 21, and Cole Goode, 22, listened with rapt attention as Robert Strong described how the eclipse telescope and monitor functioned. For Goode, the event was the perfect combination of his love of space and his love for Strong’s demonstrations.

“I’m familiar with Robert and I just love his energy,” said Goode. “I know whatever he’s talking about is going to be something I want to listen to.”

Scott joked that Goode “was his own Robert Strong,” saying that his friend’s enthusiasm for the eclipse made the event more enjoyable for him.

“Cole is a big lover of space and so when he told me about the event I immediately wanted to come out to Grand Vue with him,” said Scott. “What he is with Robert, I am with him, so I love hearing him talk about the eclipse.”

Attendee Jeff Whiteman also came to the event due to his past interactions with the Strongs, explaining that he had previously purchased a telescope from the SMART Center. Whiteman was all-in for the event, fashioning his own eclipse-viewer made out of cardboard with a square of 14-shade welding glass taped to the center.

“I’ve gotten and used the eclipse glasses before, but I like this because it’s bigger,” said Whiteman on his homemade eclipse viewer. “You can get a lot of clarity out of this and you can hold it as close to your face as glasses and see really well.”

Monday’s eclipse was Whiteman’s fourth, who noted that at 60 years old, he would have to travel to see another eclipse in his lifetime.

“There’s an eclipse coming across the United States in 2044, but we won’t see it here,” noted Whiteman. “By the time we have one back in West Virginia that we can see in 2099, I’ll be 130, so this might be my last one unless I travel for 2044.”

While some spectators commemorated the last eclipse of their lifetime, others got to see their first eclipse.

Cooper Aberegg, 12, and Brooke Aberegg, 8, were accompanied by their parents as they watched their first eclipse from the Grand Vue Park Scenic Overlook.

Mother Mandy Aberegg described the event as the “perfect opportunity” to combine what her daughter had been learning about space at Powhatan Elementary School and her son’s love for astronomy.

“My kids have enjoyed a lot of the activities here,” said Aberegg. “Their favorite activity was punching their names out of sheets of paper to project the eclipse through. Other than that, we’ve mostly had our eyes on the eclipse, since it’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see.”

Brooke High School Earth & Space Science teacher Marjorie Boyd, who was volunteering at the event, explained what was most important about the event for her was to “convey the enthusiasm” she had about the eclipse to attendees.

“You want to get them excited because this isn’t going to happen for a really long time,” said Boyd. “I had one of my students tell me today, “Oh I’m not going outside,” so I tried to twist their arm a little bit and joked they may have some homework assigned about the eclipse.”

To see so many attendees participating in the different activities and learning about the science behind the eclipse was a highlight of the event for Robert Strong. He noted that he was glad to use the event as a way to spread education about the science of the eclipse, but also to educate attendees on safe eclipse-viewing methods.

“Libby and I have been very worried about people seeing things on the web or hearing rumors that you can look at the eclipse in ways that are not safe at all,” said Strong. “I don’t want somebody getting hurt so we’ve put a lot of effort into making the sky safe today. I’m not responsible for the eclipse itself, but I’m in part responsible for making sure that people today viewed the eclipse safely.”

At Wheeling Country Day School in the city’s Woodsdale neighborhood, teachers, students and their families gathered around the field in front of the school to catch a glimpse of history. They all strapped on protective glasses to gaze as the moon crossed the sun. The senior kindergartners’ glasses were adorned with paper-plate masks to add even more flair to the occasion.

Director of Student Success IJ Kalcum used an extra pair of protective glasses to cover the lens of his phone’s camera to grab some photos. He heard that the rays could damage the delicate camera lens, so he was extra careful.

Eighth-grader Adrienne Oszust looked with wonder at the celestial event.

“This is super cool,” she said. “This is the first time I’ve experienced an eclipse.”

Fellow eighth-grader Lainee Hersey enjoyed the eclipse as well, though she was a little disappointed that the skies – while they grew darker as the moon passed by – didn’t grow as dark as she had hoped.

“I thought it was going to be pitch black,” she said.