The moon will throw some serious shade toward the sun two weeks from Monday when a total solar eclipse will cover most of North Texas in darkness for a while.
East of downtown Dallas, the city’s Parks and Recreation Department will offer a family-friendly option for maximum eclipse enjoyment on April 8.
"I've had several phone calls of people, like, calling just to get a little bit more like nitty-gritty information, because they're coming from all places," Angela O'Connell said.
O'Connell is the supervisor for Dallas Parks and Recreation’s Outdoor Adventures program.
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“April 8 is going to be ‘Totality Dallas.’ It's a three-day festival. It actually starts on April 6,” O’Connell said. "I've had calls from London as well as Canada, which is super cool, and they're just so excited to come to Texas."
In addition to regular activities such as kayaking, fishing, mountain biking, and geocaching that are offered throughout the 600-acre park, overnight camping will be available. Camping options were approved by the Dallas Parks and Rec board and include primitive or tent camping and campsites for small RV campers/trailers.
“We're expecting 3,000 day passes to be sold. And we have up to 3,000 camping sites that can also be sold,” O’Connell said. If you don't have your own gear, we're offering what's called specialty camping. So, we take families camping. And so, we already have a plethora of gear the tents, the cots, the foam pads.”
Ticket sales data shows people will travel from Florida, Colorado, California, and New York.
“We’re using this platform called Ticket Signup. It's an amazing website,” O’Connell said. “This heat map is, like, on fire … you can see these little pockets of like green and yellow and orange to see where everyone is coming from.”
Tickets for day passes start at $3 and already 2,400 people have reserved their spot.
Sunday and Monday's day pass is listed at $5. Overnight camping passes range from $100 to $250.
“It includes everything with the exception of kayaking, mountain biking and nature photography. Those are an additional very small cost,” O’Connell said.
Sunday includes an evening drone show.
“Then, we'll also feature outdoor movies as well. So, all of these things are included in your day pass,” O’Connell said. “Alternatively we have educational sessions. So, we've got a speaker coming from Chile.”
The science lecture will be led by Alysha Shugart of Chile’s Vera C. Rubin Observatory.
“She's going to be talking about the eclipse and the science behind it,” O’Connell said.
Visitors will also have the opportunity to purchase Totality Dallas-branded merchandise including glow-in-the-dark cups and koozies, pet bandanas, folding chairs, and more.
Tickets for Totality Dallas at Samuell Farm are still available and can be purchased online.
