Families come together for eclipse party

BY ANYA TIKA
MATAMORAS — The much-awaited solar eclipse drew in crowds at Matamoras Eclipse Viewing Party organized by the 4-H club on Monday. A concession stand served refreshments, and available free were supplies to make your own eclipse viewing projector out of everyday materials, for safe viewing.
“This is absolutely the safest way to view. I tell everybody, don’t look at it, don’t look at it directly,” said Diana Hart, one of the organizers, demonstrating with white paper how the event was going to show to those waiting to make their own projectors. “It takes about an hour, it’s slow.”
Pike County Extension’s Educator and 4-H coordinator Angie Smith was busy organizing the large screen for viewing.
Many took the opportunity to make a day out with picnicking. The O’Sullivan family’s annual grandparents’ weekend brought together five grandkids from both New York City and Flemington, N.J. Brandon O’Sullivan, who lives in Sunrise Lakes with his wife, Cheryl, explained they’d been busy picking up the kids the previous day for their annual get-together. Grandma Cheryl was serving fruit and other goodies, and some of the kids said they didn’t “have a clue” and hadn’t even heard of an eclipse until the day, but all were excited. Others said they thought it was going to get really dark, but that they were not scared.
“They call this ‘Grammy’s weekend',” Brandon O'Sullivan explained with a smile. “We requested that they come at the eclipse. Everybody knows not to look at the eclipse directly.” They’d made their projectors earlier from the supplies at the pavilion.
The Woodward family came from Shohola for the viewing party. Parents Jessica and Brandon brought their kids who said they were excited, but not sure of what was going to happen.
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