Hopkinsville was considered by many to be the best location in the country to view the eclipse, and Mayor Carter Hendricks told WKDZ officials are estimating that millions of dollars in revenue were generated by the influx of an estimated 150,000 sky watchers.
"Projections from our tourism experts has been about 30 million [dollars] for the weekend of a total economic impact. That's including all of the spending that might happen at hotels, restaurants, fueling stations and supermarkets, and with our vendors and merchants and so forth." Hendricks said.
Hendricks added that his primary concern was accommodating the large crowds, and making sure they had the type of experience that made them feel proud to be a part of it. He says he hopes many of the visitors will come back in the future. "Long term we hope that they do come back time and again, and if they want to spend a little money in the commonwealth, and in Christian County and Hopkinsville, then by golly we'll be happy to take it." He said.
For all of the extra traffic created by the mass of people flooding the area, Hendricks said there was not any increase in emergency calls over the weekend. He congratulated local residents for showing such good hospitality and behavior.
"Our chief Freddy Montgomery has been sending me reports each evening based on the emergency calls he has had, and actually the emergency calls this weekend have been less than the comparable weekend last year," Hendricks said. "So what I think is actually happening is our eclipse chasers are just good people looking for an honest experience to have a scientific phenomenon right here at their doorstep, and then our local residents have certainly rolled out their red carpets. They're providing great hospitality and everyone is on absolute best behavior."
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