INDIANAPOLIS — A once in a lifetime experience is coming to the Circle City.
On April 8, Indianapolis will be in the center of the path of totality for the total solar eclipse.
For 3 minutes and 46 seconds, Indy will experience darkness as the moon passes between the Sun and Earth.
Over 100,000 visitors are anticipated to come to the city for the celestial event.
“We’re treating it like our astronomical Super Bowl," Morgan Snyder with Visit Indy said. “This is a big economic boom for Indianapolis and what we’re excited about is we see sports enthusiasts come in for a lot of our large scale sporting events and expose them to Indianapolis. This might be a new demographic of visitors to this city.”
Indy is no stranger to large-scale events.
The NBA All-Star game, Olympic Swim Trials and Taylor Swift Eras Tour are all also on the docket this year.
Snyder says places to stay are booking up for the beginning of April.
“Our hotels have seen a big push in reservations. We know our Airbnbs, in fact, Airbnb came out and said we’re the number one trending city for searches over the total solar eclipse time," Snyder said.
If you’re looking for a place to stay that is a little less traditional, IMS President Doug Boles says you can head over to the Racing Capital of the World.
“The idea that you can camp on property here, just walk right out of your tent and come right into the speedway for the eclipse is gonna be an awful lot of fun," Boles said.
Every year, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway hosts roughly 330,000 people for the Indy 500.
They’re anticipating between 20,000 to 25,000 for the eclipse.
“We are an official NASA site. We’ll have a lot of those NASA and astronaut assets here that a lot of other places won’t have. And anytime you can be at the greatest racetrack in the world for an eclipse watching party the better," Boles said.
Indy is one of three official NASA viewing sites.
NASA will broadcast live from IMS and experts will be on-hand to answer questions about the scientific phenomenon.
All the fun on the racetrack is presented by Purdue University.
“Working with Purdue University, we’ll have a lot of university students, a lot of programming for younger kids who are interested in STEM. That’s gonna be led by Purdue and they’re going to elevate this," he said.
If you're thirsty before all the fun at IMS, you can head over to ten different Indianapolis cocktail restaurants offering themed cocktails for the special occasion.
Drawing inspiration from the cosmic spectacle, these concoctions blend exotic ingredients and mesmerizing colors, giving you the chance to toast to the eclipse in style.
Some include: Ash & Elm’s Obscura Solara, The Block’s Blockout, Bluebeard's Luna Solar, Bodhi's Man on the Mo(n)on, or Parlor Public House's Solaris.
"We have a good space to welcome new people. People that visit downtown end up here, especially if they're cider fans from out of state, because we're really one of the few options to enjoy this special beverage here in Indy," Ash & Elm Owner Andrea Homoya said.
You can find a full list of participating restaurants here.
If you happen to sleep through the whole day and miss the eclipse, you’d have to wait another 129 years until Indianapolis experiences it again.
