Eclipse Festival Gets A (Long-ish) Name, Library Events Planned

(Gillette, Wyo.) While organizers are still putting together their event list for the “Campbell County Energy Capital Eclipse Festival,” we can report that the weekend of August 21st is going to be filled with happenings all over the City of Gillette (and Wright, too!)

So far the Camplex is going to have a street festival and watch party the day of the total solar eclipse, Monday, August 21st. Gillette Main Street is attempting to have live musical acts downtown for Saturday night, and Camplex is hoping they can host an outdoor concert Sunday night.

And though director Paul Zeleski will be in Casper that week for AstroCon, the county eclipse planning committee is hoping to have someone who can take over duties at CCSD’s Planetarium in order to host shows that dovetail with the solar eclipse.

Both the Gillette branch and the Wright branches of the Campbell County Public Library System will be hosting a variety of astronomy-themed events. During each one they will pass out eclipse glasses. So far this year’s adult summer reading list will be space related, and teens and children will have various eclipse-related projects leading up to the event in August.

Beginning in July, the library will undertake a “county-wide book club,” encouraging residents to read “The End of Night: Searching for Natural Darkness in an Age of Artificial Light,” by Paul Bogard. The “One Book One Community” program is designed to get everyone involved in a discussion, in this case, the solar eclipse.

Library Director Terri Lesley says the concept is to “create the feeling of a county-wide book club, where residents of different ages and backgrounds read and discuss one book.” The hope is that after people read the book, they’ll attend other eclipse events to discuss it, leading up to the eclipse.

Stay tuned to our #wyoclipse page to keep track of all things eclipse, state-wide. You can also check out a fully interactive map of the event from Wyoming Tourism by clicking here.