The total solar eclipse is coming! The total solar eclipse is coming!

A total solar eclipse shocks plants.  

As the moon slid over the sun during the Great American Eclipse of 2017, researchers studying sagebrush in Wyoming discovered photosynthesis in the shaggy desert plants slowing like it does at dusk. And the sun’s re-emergence two minutes and 18 seconds later stressed out the plants.

Animals, too, are thrown by the false dusk of a total solar eclipse. The sun’s going into hiding during the day has been known to stop the singing of birds and the chirping of crickets and cause bees to return to the hive.

We humans, though--you can’t fool us, at least not with an eclipse. We recognize a total solar blackout for what it is, a rare and fleeting wonder. Which is why a million people are expected to visit Western New York for the eclipse that’s coming the afternoon of April 8, 2024; the Buffalo area is among the cities in 13 states along the eclipse’s sweeping “path of totality”--a celestial route that will sweep northeast from Texas to Maine. (See chart.)

There's just one catch: April 8’s dance of the sun and moon will last less than four minutes, but the average tourist among the one million people expected to visit the Buffalo area for the big event will be here for an estimated four days. Four. Days. That leaves our guests with 5,756 minutes to kill. How should they spend all that extra time?

We have an idea! If you know anyone who’s coming to town for the big event and looking for other things to do and see while here, send that person to Vidler’s 5 & 10 to shop for a Western New York souvenir. Among the inimitably Buffalo-area items we stock are

• the famous Beef on Weck Ornament;
• the ever-popular Vidler’s Store Replica;
• the tantalizing if wholly inedible Buffalo Chicken Wing Ornament;
• the stylish Vidler’s Butcher Apron; and
• the vintage East Aurora Hoodie.

Visiting our store is a memorable experience—one that’s even better than an eclipse, really, because you can look directly at Vidler’s without wearing funny glasses. And we don’t traumatize plants.

Chart courtesy of 2024 Total Eclipse: Where & When - NASA Science

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