In the Texas Hill Country, where I live and where I grew up, preparations for today’s total solar eclipse have been long a-making and even longer under discussion. The town where I live, Johnson City, had expected tens of thousands of visitors and even more people passing through on their way to Stonewall, Fredericksburg, Kerrville, Marble Falls, Burnet, and other places. The town and many of its institutions made plans to shut down against the increased traffic, and I confess to being happy to have a day off despite the season, as well as for seeing the city take what seemed to me to be reasonable and prudent measures to address the perceived state of emergency, even as I found myself somewhat annoyed by the apocalyptic talk.

Over the weekend, not as much of the crowds materialized as had been thought. Yes, there was more traffic flowing on the US highways that go through town than is normal for a weekend, but it wasn’t nearly the days-long parking-lot that had been feared. Honestly, relatively few people stopped off in town; the impression people reported to me having was that people were just passing through, heading off to other destinations where festivals and other events had been planned around the eclipse rather than camping out in this small town.

I have mixed feelings about it. Admittedly, Johnson City is small, and the county of which it is the seat is rural and sparsely populated. It does not have the infrastructure or the personnel to deal with a massive influx of people, even with the long planning time that an easily-forecast celestial event allows. That it did not have to exert itself in ways it is not equipped to do is not a bad thing. At the same time, though, that the prediction did not come true means the next one will be less believed, and sometimes, the boy who cries wolf really does see one stalking about.

Too, the relative dearth of people stopping in town means the local businesses, which had been hoping for the influx and had prepared for it by increasing staffing and inventory, are now in far less stable positions than they had been. Some of the inventory, perhaps even much of it, will last, and it will be available for use for weeks and months to come, saving costs in the coming days–but a lot of it is perishable foodstuffs that will have to be discarded, unless one or another of our local eateries decides taking the risk is worth it.

That is, of course, a dangerous prospect in a small town. After all, folks know where folks live.

For my own part, though, I am glad for the time off, as I noted. I am more glad that I have gotten to spend it with the people I love most and at home, both of which are attractive prospects to me at any time. I look forward to the next time I get to do it–hopefully without the antecedent upset.

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