Eclipse brings optimism and entrepreneurship in rural Oregon

The tiny central Oregon town of Madras, population 6,500, sits at the junction of two rural highways.

This summer, it will be at the center of a celestial convergence.

Madras expects as many as 100,000 skywatchers to pack into the city and its immediate surroundings Aug. 21 when the moon passes briefly in front of the sun, turning day into night for just about two minutes.

By virtue of its location in the center of the "path of totality," plus the high desert's dependably clear midsummer skies, eclipse hounds believe Madras may be the best place in the world to view the once-in-a-lifetime event. So local residents and businesses are rushing to cash in.

"It's a crazy thing to happen to this little tiny town that people have always just driven through and never thought twice about," said Lysa Vattimo, a local event planner Madras hired to oversee the city's preparations.

Madras is hardly alone. Farmers, wineries and colleges across the state are turning fields into campgrounds and making plans to capitalize on the crowds that will be rushing into the moon's shadow that Monday morning, inundating the largely rural towns that happen to fall within the path of totality.

No one knows just how many will come. State planners estimate the number could be as high as 1 million, though they admit that's only a guess - and it includes travelers from within Oregon who will drive relatively short distances.

Still, in small communities the eclipse will create a profound, albeit short-lived, economic opportunity. It could also create a tremendous burden in towns unaccustomed to large crowds, packing hotels and campsites, and clogging narrow highways.

They'll come from across the state and around the world. Hotels and campsites have been booked for months, or longer. Two years ago, a German group reserved the entire 100-room Eagle Crest Resort for the eclipse. A Japanese group of nearly 300 has booked up the Kah-Nee-Ta Resort near Warm Springs.

Northwest Cascade, the Washington company behind the regional Honey Bucket empire, commissioned 900 additional portable toilets in anticipation the eclipse would make for a busy summer in Oregon.

"It's going to be an opportunity to help a lot of businesses throughout the state," said Linea Gagliano, communications director for Travel Oregon, the state's tourism commission.

Businesses like Charlie's OK, a barber shop in downtown Madras that has been cutting hair since 1949. Casting his eye toward the August crowds, owner Nick Bowlby turned the vacant lot next to the shop into the Willow Creek Taproom. He added a fire pit, food trucks and kegs of beer.

It's something Bowlby had hoped to do eventually, he said, but the eclipse gave him the confidence to do it now.

"It seems like the city overall is getting things nice and spruced up," Bowlby said. "I hear folks through the (barber) shop, getting excited."

Mortgage loan officer and part-time event planner Kim Patterson went in with a friend to rent out campsites on a bare piece of land her friend owns just outside of town. They're budgeting $10,000 in preparation for August's crowds, grading roads on the property, mapping out campsites and preparing to haul in water and toilets.

The Totality Awesome Eclipse Camp could accommodate as many as 1,000 visitors amid the juniper and sage, at $300 for a five-day pass. Patterson said it feels like everyone in Madras is getting in on the action.

"This has become a huge endeavor with a lot of people," she said.

No one really knows how many will come for the eclipse. The state estimate, of 1 million people, includes hundreds of thousands of Oregonians who might travel just a few miles to get into the path of the totality. Portland, for example, is just north of the totality - if drivers can beat the traffic and make it even 30 miles south, to Woodburn, they'll have a nice view.

The eclipse crosses a dozen states, but Oregon may get a disproportionate number of visitors because of timing. The totality occurs between 10:15 and 10:26 in the morning, depending on location. As the phenomenon hits eastern states, though, it arrives during the afternoon -- prime thunderstorm time in August.

Madras arrived as its guess of 100,000 by assuming a few visitors at each hotel room and campsite and that every household will host at least a couple people from out of town. On top of that, Madras estimates 10 percent of neighboring Deschutes County will come north.

Weather is a wildcard. Coastal skies are often socked in around 10:15, when the eclipse hits Oregon's western edge. Salem and John Day are usually sunny in mid-August - but not always.

Regardless, on a statewide basis the economic impact will be relatively modest. Eclipse or no, August is already peak season in Oregon's travel sector and the state has limited capacity to accommodate additional visitors. And since the state has no sales tax, tourists don't fill public coffers the way they do in other parts of the country.

Moreover, University of Oregon economist Tim Duy said, a one-off, single-day attraction doesn't fuel much public or private investment.

"It's a temporary event, and as a consequence it's not going to have a lot of long-lasting impacts," he said.

The eclipse might provide an economic boost comparable to a college football game in Eugene or Corvallis, Duy said, or it might be analogous to the surge small towns enjoy when Cycle Oregon stays overnight.

Madras hopes the eclipse could literally put the small community on the map for travelers who might never have considered it a destination - and might come back.

Some homeowners will vacate their houses for the event, shacking up with family for a few days so they can rent out their own places for a few nights, according to Vattimo, the city's eclipse planner. They're fetching as much as $1,500 a night, she said, with a three-night minimum.

"That would make most of their mortgages for the next nine months," Vattimo said. "That's a pretty big boost for a tiny little area."

She carries a binder 21/2 inches thick packed with Madras' eclipse planning documents and chairs a group of 100 public agency leaders who meet monthly to coordinate transportation, police, fire and land management.

Madras will put at least $100,000 in public funds into managing the August crowds, according to Vattimo. Local lodging taxes won't come close to covering that outlay, she said, but the city had no choice.

"We had to manage this from a safety standpoint," Vattimo said. "The people were coming. We couldn't stop them."

-- Mike Rogoway; twitter: @rogoway; 503-294-7699