BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — Half a million people made their way to Western New York for the total solar eclipse. 7 News asked some of them what they thought about the highly anticipated event.
Awesome, unique, crazy and special were just some of the words that came to mind.
"I was very emotional. I started crying a little bit," Erin Mairone, who came to Buffalo with her family from Philadelphia, said. "We saw it in 2017 in Philadelphia, and it was nothing like it was today. It was completely pitch black. People had glow sticks. Fireworks were going off. It was an incredible experience."
Jim Sweet, another East Coast visitor from New Jersey, watched the eclipse from the waterfront in Dunkirk.
"As it was going on, even with the cloudiness, it was just amazing," he said. "The colors on the horizon were purples and oranges, and the clouds had a wave-effect."
This cloudy day caused some concern for excited eclipse-watchers — but this concern seemed to vanish with the sun.
"At first I was thinking, 'too cloudy, not liking it ...'" Peter Dyett, who was watching a total solar eclipse for the first time, said. "But the fire was going, we hung tough and as it turns out, the clouds were a great filter."
Others chose the top of a building as their lookout spot.
"[We were] probably 20 stories up. Everyone was at the top. There were probably forty people there," Nathan Allen, a student at the University at Buffalo, said. "They were all just happy. It was just excitement."
Even though the eagerly anticipated event is over, viewers believed it was worth the wait.
"The old cliche was a 'once-in-a-lifetime experience.'" Sweet said. "I think everybody got that feel."
