CNY drawing people back home to see solar eclipse

SYRACUSE, N.Y. (WSYR-TV) – Central and Northern New York are still shaping up as some of the best viewing areas in the nation, which is bringing in people from all over.

For Meredith Doubleday, Central New York is not just in the path of totality for the solar eclipse, it’s also a place she and her husband know very well.

“We used to live in Rochester. I’m from Cooperstown, and we hadn’t been up here for a couple years. We haven’t been able to visit as much since the pandemic. And then when we found out that the eclipse was happening, we were like, wait we definitely need to come and got to see my grandma on the way, so it’s win-win-win,” Doubleday said.

The solar eclipse is not only bringing people back to their CNY roots, but all visitors are boosting the local economy in the process.

“It’s really great to see, first of all, that this is kind of a local community event, that it’s bringing all these people here and that people are getting to see, like I’m hoping sticking around for the food and the music, and all the great things that are part of the local Syracuse and Rochester like economy and culture,” Doubleday said.

A culture that exudes community.

“As soon as we got to Binghamton yesterday, we see Wegmans is letting people out, and I was like, wow this is a community event for this whole area, so it’s really cool to see,” Doubleday’s husband, Nicholas Williams, said.

And see something you can’t see everywhere in New York.

“I know that a lot of people think of New York with New York City, and so hopefully, this will be a really great example to see there’s New York State, and there’s a lot of value in the north and the west of it,” Williams said.

The solar eclipse putting Central New York in the spotlight.