Eclipse News

City south of Dallas is expected to be best place to see big eclipse

Beautiful downtown Ennis, Texas

Courtesy photo

A city 30 miles south of Dallas promises it'll have the best view of the big eclipse, coming up on April 8: Ennis, which already has a number of feathers in its cap including its reputation as the Official Bluebonnet City and Trail of Texas, is staking a claim that its view of the Great North American Eclipse will be the best in Texas.

This is the total solar eclipse crossing North America, first passing over Mexico, then taking a northeasterly diagonal path across the U.S. and Canada.

The sky will darken as the moon passes between the sun and the earth, completely blocking the face of the sun, while making the sun’s solar corona (outer atmosphere) visible to the naked eye.

As a release notes, it's an event that occurs somewhere on earth once every 18 months or so, but occurs at any given place only once every 375 years — making it a once-in-a-lifetime event.

The eclipse will cross over 13 U.S. states from the southwest to the northeast (Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, Tennessee, Michigan), but there is a narrow path of totality, when things go truly dark — which you can experience only if you're directly in the center of the moon's shadow.

Texas is considered one of the best places to view the eclipse, because that's where the duration of totality will be the longest. As it moves northeast, the duration will decrease, with the shortest duration in Maine (less than 3 minutes).

Ennis will be directly in the center of the moon’s shadow, making it one of the points of greatest duration, boasting the longest viewing time of totality:

The skies in Ennis will go completely dark for four minutes and 23 seconds — one of the longest viewing times in the U.S.

Time for a bulleted list comparing Ennis' totality time to other cities in Texas:

Ennis: 4 minutes 23 seconds
Dallas: 3 minutes 49 seconds
Fort Worth: 2 minutes 33 seconds
San Antonio: 2 minutes 3 seconds
Austin: 1 minute 44 seconds

Given this superior ranking, Ennis — where the population is 23,000 — is anticipating an influx of 200,000 visitors during the big event from across the globe.

The city will have multiple viewing locations for visitors that include historic Downtown Ennis, the Texas Motorplex, and Sugar Ridge Winery.

It even has a jazzy website, Eclipse Over Ennis. That is some creative civic marketing.

The total duration of the elipse in North America will last 2 hours, 39 minutes, 45 seconds.

Other salient Ennis eclipse stats include:

Partial eclipse begins in Ennis at 12:22:43 pm
Full eclipse begins in Ennis at 1:40:02 pm
Maximum at 1:42:14 pm
Full eclipse ends at 1:44:25 pm
Partial eclipse ends at 3:02:28 pm

For more information about the Eclipse Over Ennis, contact the Ennis Welcome Center at 972-878-4748.

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GRAPE EXPECTATIONS

Texas Hill Country wineries crush summer with grape stomping events

Photo courtesy of Texas Hill Country Wineries

Not all wine stomping is done with the feet.

If you ask Texas Hill Country Wineries, good, clean fun is a tad overrated. The nonprofit’s members are getting messy this summer with a series of grape stomps celebrating harvest season.

Yes, the vast majority of the world’s wines are now made with mechanical destemmers and crushers, but there is no harm in cosplaying as a vendemmiatore hopped up on mezzo vino. As long as you keep the white linen tucked away in the closet.

The main event pays homage to the most famous wine scene in popular culture (unless you count Paul Giamatti guzzling a spit bucket in Sideways). The I Love Lucy Charity Grape Stomp, held August 8-9 at Texas Hills Vineyard, includes live music, a costume contest, freshly made Lucy sangria, and souvenir t-shirts available for purchase. All proceeds benefit area volunteer firefighters.

Meanwhile, other Hill Country wineries are putting their own spin on the harvest tradition. Becker Vineyards will pair its high-stepping event (September 5-6) with cheese and charcuterie from its onsite Verandah Bar. Messina Hof is hosting a raucous harvest festival (August 21-22) with grape picking, and Signor Vineyards will roll out lawn games — just don’t wear cleats into the vat.

Wildseed Farms grape stomp, held every Saturday in August, includes a complimentary glass of wine. Texas Wine Collective adds barbecue and tunes from the Dawson Holland band. Whether two-stepping is the proper technique to release juice from the fruit is up for debate. Maybe try the Boot Scootin’ Boogie.

Whichever event, it might be a good idea to have a good foot scrub waiting at the Airbnb. A full list of grape stomping fun can be found here.

wineries vineyards hill country grape stomping music festivals harvest wine