August/September Business View Magazine

188 189 to last summer’s solar eclipse, deigning itself “the place to be in America” to witness event totality. Right in the middle of the narrow, 70-mile-wide swath that afforded best viewing,Hopkinsville opened itself to the world. And the world responded.Over 116,000 from 25 differ- ent countries, 47different states, and 3 U.S. territories came to Hopkinsville and Christian County to watch the eclipse and say that they were there to witness its two minutes and 40.1 seconds of totality. “We weren’t sure howwe would hold up from an infra- structure and manpower perspective to provide the type of experience that we were hoping visitors would enjoy,” Mayor Carter Hendricks recalls.“I’m happy to report that the eclipse experience really exceeded our expectations, both from the actual eclipse, itself,which was awe-in- spiring, but of equal importance to us was our efforts to make sure that visitors had a wonderful time as they HOPKINSVILLE, KENTUCKY came here and spent three, four, or five days with us. Our community stepped up and created an experience for our visitors that matched the science of the eclipse, itself. And, since that time,we’ve continued to get repeat visitors; individuals who enjoyed their stay so much that they’ve come back to enjoy other experienc- es that we offer.We even had some people move here as a result of their experience during the total solar eclipse.” Hendricks reports that since last summer, the city has utilized the momentum it gained with the eclipse experience to complete several ongoing community projects and developments.He ticks off an impressive list: “The Alhambra Theater is currently under reno- vation, set to open again late this fall, and there’s a lot of excitement about that–it is one of our premier performing arts facilities and an icon in downtown