Eclipse draws young and old to Riverside Park

Event considered most viewed and photographed in history 

A lot of “oohs” and “ahhs” by kids – and maybe some adults – from several groups gathered in La Crosse’s Riverside Park during Monday’s solar eclipse.

Dawn Wacek, Youth Services Manager at the La Crosse Library, organized one of them.

“I thought it was really fun to see how kids were excited by the pinhole viewers, which seems like a simple craft,” she said. “But, for kids, they’ve never seen anything like that before, so it was brand new.”

Even the adults were having a good time.

“You know, I was a little surprised by how many adults were here,” Wacek said. “I expected families to come down. But seeing all the adults, college students, people on their lunch breaks coming over. That was pretty fun.”

Eclipse viewing glasses were hard to come by, so those gathered at the viewing parties passed around the few pairs available.

“The thing, for me was just the sense of sharing and community,” Wacek said. “That was more fun that looking at the eclipse itself.”

But, since she was in third grade for the last solar eclipse, it was still pretty fulfilling.

Yesterday’s eclipse is generally considered the most viewed and photographed in history.