Eclipse Planning Guide for Local Businesses in Hardin County

Hardin County will experience a total solar eclipse when the moon passes between the Sun and Earth on Monday, April 8th 2024, between 1:55-4:26pm.

We will be completely in the path of totality for approximately 4 minutes with maximum totality at 3:12pm.

Hardin County expects a significant increase in visitors to the area between Thursday, April 4th and Tuesday, April 9th. This is a great opportunity for local businesses; however, preparedness will be crucial for this event. Grocery stores, gas stations, hotels, restaurants, transportation services, retail stores, and other establishments will experience heavier than normal business.

What You Can Do to Prepare Your Business:

• Back-up Plans/ Scheduling: Prepare for an increase in customers; have needed supplies on hand; consider extending hours of operation to meet customer needs and have back-up plans if staff is delayed due to traffic. Avoid scheduling major events that are not eclipse related, for example: funerals. However, if you are holding Eclipse events or hosting a viewing site, please visit hccba.com/eclipse and complete the necessary form, so they can be added to the Hardin County Eclipse event/information website.
• Employee Preparedness: Encourage employees to have a full tank of gas; have their own resources ready at home; day care needs met, etc., by Thursday, April 4th. Gas stations may be very busy or may be waiting for resupply. Consider shift changes or keeping non-essential employees home that Monday afternoon.
• Cash / Financial Transactions:
  • Be prepared for more cash transactions. You may have larger than normal cash deposits over the weekend. Check ahead of time if your bank will be open on Monday, April 8th.
  • HOW DOES YOUR CREDIT/ DEBIT CARD MACHINE ACCESS THE INTERNET??? If you use cell service/cell wireless service for your transactions, be prepared with a back-up plan. We anticipate a high demand for cellular service during the impact period, especially Monday, April 8th. You may find you are not able to make transactions; have a back-up plan to meet your customers' needs.
• Communications: Anticipate possible cellular service disruptions due to increased demand. Visitors may have urgent requests to use your landline business phone if cell service is limited; decide how you want to handle these requests and make sure employees know what to do. If it is a 911 emergency and you have a landline, be ready to help!
• Regularly Scheduled Deliveries: Evaluate when you receive your regular deliveries; deliveries for Monday, April 8th may be significantly delayed due to the overwhelming number of vehicles trying to come into and leave Hardin County. Consider rescheduling for Tuesday or ordering extra the week prior.
• Restrooms: Be aware many visitors will be camping in authorized and potentially unauthorized locations; expect customers who may be primarily interested in using business restrooms. Public restrooms will be in short supply and port-a-potties in limited locations may be at capacity until serviced.
• Weather and Your Business: If conditions are cloudy, visitors with hotel reservations will most likely not change their plans, but the day-trippers may move to a location with better viewing conditions; there is no way to predict this, but monitoring the weather forecast the week prior to April 8th will be useful for your business. Even if it is cloudy, you can still experience the darkening effect of the eclipse.
• Viewing Safety: If your business will be selling or distributing eclipse viewing glasses and hand-held solar viewers ensure they are certified with a designated ISO 12312-2 international standard.

For more information:

https://www.hccba.com/eclipse | https://ema.ohio.gov/media-publications/ohio-total-solar-eclipse