Delaware Park draws eclipse fans from near and far

But there were also visitors like Seth and Laura Bailey, who drove six hours from Middlebury, Conn., to experience the eclipse with their 19-month-old daughter, Lylah Moon.

Seth and Laura both wore eclipse-themed shirts for the occasion, and Seth had an eclipse-logo hat, too. They spent two nights in a hotel in Niagara Falls, Ont., before making their way to Delaware Park on Monday morning, to dodge the expected big crowds at the falls.

“It’s been an aspiration of mine to see a total eclipse, and it just happens to be my birthday,” said Seth Bailey, who turned 43 on Monday.

The Baileys were visiting the Buffalo Zoo a few hours before the big moment. Seth Bailey is an amateur photographer and bought a special filter for his camera. He was thinking about setting up in the zoo parking lot to take photos.

Seth Bailey had known for 10 years the eclipse would fall on his birthday, but didn’t settle on where to go to see it until about a year ago. One point in the Buffalo Niagara region’s favor: Laura had never been to Niagara Falls before.

At the Comfort Inn where they stayed over the border, the Baileys happened to stay in room 408 – the digits of the eclipse date – and Laura won some money at the casino, to boot.

The Baileys clearly had company from out of town. In the zoo parking lot around lunchtime, there were vehicles with license plates from 14 different states, plus Ontario.

Down the ring road, the Juicery opened for the season on Sunday, a month earlier than usual. Customers were lining up for eclipse specials on Monday: cosmic blueberry smoothies, lunar lemon slushies and mango blasters.

Danielle Casucci, who co-owns the Juicery with Angelo Canna, said business was booming on Sunday, and she figured Delaware Park would draw crowds to watch the eclipse.