FOREST, Ohio — Forest, Ohio is a small village in Hardin County, about 10 miles west of Upper Sandusky.
Its population is just 1300.
Forest was founded in the 1850s and even though the roads have gone from dirt to pavement, there’s still only one stoplight in the town.
“This was quite the bustling town back, oh 50 years ago,” said Forest Mayor Dave Book. “There was supermarkets, and two hardware stores, but as the years went by, downtown just started to dwindle.”
For a short time in early April however, Forest is going to get a lot of visitors.
Forest is in the direct path of the Total Solar Eclipse on Monday, April 8.
“NASA contacted the village and said, ‘Guess what? You’re it!’,” said Mayor Book.
Forest, Ohio will be one of the places in the entire country with the longest period of totality, the time sky will go dark as the moon crosses the path of the sun.
In fact, the time Forest experiences totality, three minutes and 56 seconds, will be double that of Toledo.
“It’s just a once in a lifetime thing you get to experience, and it’s right here in our backyard,” said Mayor Book.
Still, there is some amount of uncertainty over the number of people who will show up in Forest to experience the eclipse. The number of visitors could be in the thousands.
“There’s a little bit of nervousness because we do have so many people that are possibly going to show up,” said John Parthemore, who lives in Forest. “But it’s also a feeling of excitement because Forest is just a little village.”
To accommodate its guests, the village has designated a local park, a soccer field, and a square for viewing, and hoping they have everything they will need to keep people comfortable and happy, and the town clean.
“We’re getting dumpsters for trash. We’re getting cardboard trash boxes and things like that. Porta-potties,” said the mayor.
And of course, there will be lots of cars and other vehicles.
“I am worried about where people are going to park. As long as my driveway’s not blocked, we should be good. Please don’t pull on my lawn," said Parthemore.
Totality of the solar eclipse in Forest will start at 3:10 p.m. and peak at 3:12 p.m. on April 8.
Mayor Book is hoping for the best for his town.
“If we get 10,000 we got problems. If we get 100, welcome aboard,” said the mayor.
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