In Quebec’s Mont-Mégantic International Dark-Sky Reserve, which stretches across the Eastern Townships, municipalities have agreed to reduce their light pollution to preserve the night sky. As you drive eastward into this secluded island of darkness, thousands of stars become visible overhead, an impossible sight from densely packed cities such as Montreal.
But this peaceful part of the province, known for its untouched landscapes and beautiful national parks, is about to get much busier thanks to being in the path of totality of a total solar eclipse happening on Monday, April 8.
How to watch a total solar eclipse
The eclipse’s path of totality, in which the moon will completely cover the sun for up to four minutes, will travel through parts of Mexico, 13 American states, Southern Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, western PEI, the northern tip of Cape Breton, and Newfoundland and Labrador.
Total solar eclipses, which happen only around once a century at any particular spot, have a tendency to draw enormous crowds, including eclipse chasers from all over the world and last-minute tourists from nearby regions.
Dr. John Ruan, an associate professor of physics and astronomy at Bishop’s University, predicts hundreds of thousands of people will flock to the Eastern Townships for the eclipse.
Dr. John Ruan, an associate professor of physics and astronomy at Bishop’s University in Sherbrooke, has been making preparations for this total solar eclipse for more than two years.
“I’ve been sounding the alarm,” he says. “There’s going to be hundreds of thousands of people flooding into the Eastern Townships right along the path.”
Ruan knows this from experience. In 2017, he drove down to central Oregon from B.C. to experience the total eclipse for himself.
“The surrounding area was in complete pandemonium,” he recalls. “It was bumper to bumper traffic on the highways.” Oregon officials ended up calling in the Army National Guard to help with crowd control.
Where to see all the total solar eclipses for the rest of this decade
Because partial eclipses happen all the time, people in the Eastern Townships might assume they know what to expect, but Ruan likens it to suddenly hosting the Super Bowl in your hometown. “You might say, ‘We have football games all the time, so why is this a big deal?’ But this isn’t just another football game, it’s the Super Bowl.”
When the moon fully covers the sun around 3:28 p.m. in the Eastern Townships on April 8, it will look and feel as though night has abruptly fallen. For four long minutes, birds will stop singing, automatic streetlights will come on, the temperature will drop several degrees and if you look out toward the horizon, you might see a spectacular 360-degree sunset caused by the sunlight still reaching Earth outside of the moon’s shadow.
Marie-Georges Bélanger, director of communications at l’ASTROLab in Mont-Mégantic National Park, and the lab’s outreach team have been working to prepare local governments in the Eastern Townships and beyond for years, including asking schools to remain closed on the day of the eclipse so that kids can properly enjoy the once-in-a-lifetime event (with parents on hand to supervise). Thanks to their efforts, most schools in the region have agreed.
Certain business owners view the crowds as a fantastic opportunity.
“I started building up my inventory of eclipse glasses two years ago,” says Michael Bélair, an amateur astronomer and owner of La Cuvée in Magog, a winery and telescope store. Behind the cash, stacks of repurposed wine boxes are brimming with glasses to sell. “People are coming into the store every day to buy them,” he says. “I’m glad I bought them then, because now my supplier is all sold out.”
On April 8, Bélair plans to set up one of his telescopes just outside his shop, selling glasses to unprepared tourists and locals while enjoying the event with his school-aged children.
Jeremy Fontana co-owns Au Diable Vert with his wife. The pair host augmented reality stargazing shows at their open-air planetarium, Observétoiles.
A sculpture of a moose by local artist Daniel Haché is illuminated on the Au Diable Vert property. The wide open view looks out toward the American border to the south; an ideal direction to view the total solar eclipse.
At Au Diable Vert, a family-owned mountain resort in Glen Sutton, the promise of big crowds rushing in for the eclipse has already begun to pay off. In what’s usually a slower season in the region, most of their cabins and treehouses are booked on the days leading up to the eclipse, and they’ve started selling separate day-passes for access to the site.
“I think it will have a profound effect on people,” says Jeremy Fontana, who co-owns Au Diable Vert with his wife. He recalls seeing his first partial eclipse in Montreal in his 20s, and just how eerie it was. “It’s a lot to deal with on just one day,” he says. “But it’s a once in a lifetime thing.”
Au Diable Vert is particularly well situated for the event, boasting an open-air augmented reality planetarium with 184 seats. Tickets for their special eclipse show – $39.99 – are already sold out, but day-trippers can still enjoy the property’s panoramic views of the surrounding area from the south-facing mountain side, which is the direction you’ll need to be looking in during the eclipse.
Nathalie Dumas, a painter and veterinary technician in Sherbrooke, has designed an entire art project around the eclipse. Following a meticulously timed schedule, she plans to capture each phase of the eclipse onto pieces of cyanotype photo paper, which she’ll then turn into a homemade Tarot deck.
“Light from the sun dyes the paper a deep blue,” she explains. “Then I’ll paint around the print of the eclipse in the style of Tarot cards.”
The physics and astronomy department at Bishop’s University houses a book of astronomical tables from 1764.
Dumas will be spending the day with her husband, François Gaudreau, a physics professor and head of the science department at the Cégep de Sherbrooke.
Gaudreau has his own big project planned for students and anyone else on the Cégep campus: a walk-in pinhole camera – a camera obscura – that will project the image of the eclipse onto a whiteboard inside.
“People can gather inside to experience the eclipse together,” he says, “instead of individually with the glasses.”
Paule Rochette, owner of Hébergement aux Cinq Sens. Despite the promise of an influx of tourists on the day of the eclipse, she plans to hold fast to the core principle of the business – respect for nature – and will only welcome around 25 guests.
For anyone still looking for accommodations, your chances for the night before the eclipse are slim at this point, but the region’s beautiful night skies should draw you in any time of the year. Bora Boréal rents luxury floating cabins on Lac Batley, 30 minutes from Sherbrooke, with two-storey windows that offer spectacular views of the night sky from indoors and three thermal baths on the grounds.
Or drive farther into the Mont-Mégantic International Dark-Sky Reserve to Hébergement aux Cinq Sens, a campground and eco-lodging site located a short drive from Mont-Mégantic National Park.
At Cinq Sens, respect for nature has always come first. Despite the promise of record-setting numbers of tourists, owner Paule Rochette decided against disrupting the peaceful trails and forests on her land by giving too many people access to the site.
“We’re thinking of opening up the tent sites,” says Rochette, despite it not being the usual season for camping. “Because we know that so many people want to be part of it. But we’ll have 25 people, maximum, on the eclipse.”
Benoit Paquette, biologist and co-manager of Hébergement aux Cinq Sens, gives a talk to guests about living harmoniously with nature.
Rochette, a member of the Huron-Wendat Nation of Quebec, has gone to considerable lengths with her co-manager, Benoit Paquette, to make her business as eco-friendly and self-sustaining as possible. Guests are encouraged to think about where the wood for their campfires comes from and the work that went into building their lodgings. Massive solar panels power all of the eco-homes on the property; a notable blip in incoming power is expected on the day of the eclipse.
Paquette, a biologist, offers sustainable-living workshops to guests on everything from building greenhouses to rainwater collection. “All of these people are coming down to celebrate something in nature,” says Rochette. “Hopefully they will respect nature while they’re here.”
