BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — There were a lot of great places to watch the total eclipse in Western New York on Monday but in the Elmwood Village, the Richard Olmsted Complex was the place to be.
"It was amazing," said Sean Heidinger, Director of Business Development for Douglas Development, one of the sponsors of "Eclipse Over Elmwood," a family-friendly event on the South Lawn of The Richardson.
"We saw about 1500 people during totality, I would say over 2500 people throughout the day," said Heidinger.
The event was free to attend but offered refreshments, music, and what turned out to be an incredible glimpse of the eclipse in totality.
"It was absolutely amazing, people were roaring, people were crying," said Heidinger.
People were also spending. Many in attendance took advantage of food and drink pop-ups at the event from Cucina Restaurant at the Richardson Hotel.
"Our bar and restaurant sales were 4 times the sales of what they normally are," said Heidinger.
Just around the corner, several other local businesses also saw similar boosts.
Mike Shatzel, the owner of Cole's on Elmwood Avenue tells 7 News Anchor Jeff Russo that the restaurant also did three to four times their normal sales on Monday. Shatzel added that at points during the weekend customers had to be put on a waitlist to even get into Cole's.
Right next door Mr. Goodbar on Elmwood Avenue was also happy to welcome eclipse enthusiasts.
"Right about 4 o'clock we got that really busy and stayed that way throughout the night," said Bobby Rabb, owner of Mr. Goodbar. "Outside of a Bills Monday Night game this is as good as it gets."
Louie's Texas Red Hots on Elmwood tells 7 News they were also busier than usual.
"Our whole dining room was packed," said Liberty Steel, Assistant Manager at Louie's. "You had a lot of people with different accents. I would say 'where are you from?' I had people from Colorado, some people from Toronto, just all over."
But while the eclipse effect was felt in parts of the Elmwood Village for other Buffalo businesses it came up a bit short.
"This weekend was big, don't get me wrong, but I think we were anticipating something a little bit larger," said Steve Jarmuz, General Manager of the Hyatt Regency Buffalo.
Jarmuz says that the Hyatt Regency Buffalo was "completely sold out" in the months leading up to the eclipse, but believes the weather forecast had people changing their plans.
"The last couple of weeks we started to see cancellations last minute," said Jarmuz.
Still, Jarmuz says the Hyatt Regency Buffalo ended up at about 80 percent capacity for the weekend, which is still a significant number for Buffalo's largest hotel which boasts 396 rooms.
"It wouldn't touch anything close to a Bills home game, it wouldn't touch anything close to March Madness. I would say, if I'm rating it on a scale, it's a solid B+", said Jarmuz.
