MOORESVILLE — Camping will be available at Mooresville’s Pioneer Park in the days leading up to the total solar eclipse on Monday, April 8, 2024.

During the Mooresville Park Board’s Nov. 13 meeting, park superintendent Phil Cornelius told board members Mooresville Fire Chief Matt Dalton had requested a decision on whether camping would be allowed at Pioneer Park.

Cornelius went on to note that park staff has some concerns with allowing camping the weekend of the eclipse. One concern, he noted, is that weekend is usually the opening weekend for baseball, softball and soccer at the park.

It is anticipated that many people who want to witness the eclipse will start to arrive in the area on Saturday, April 6.

“Homeland Security has identified that we expect, in the past, and this is data that they’ve seen, at the conclusion of the eclipse, it is the equivalent of 80 Super Bowls being released at the same time,” Cornelius said.

He told the board the park staff’s suggestion is to not include camping in the park of any kind that weekend.

Cornelius was asked if the baseball, softball and soccer games could be pushed off that weekend.

According to Cornelius, there have been preliminary discussions with the leagues to push the start of games into the next weekend.

“Even if we don’t allow camping, that weekend – you can’t get through the bottom end of the park,” park board member Mark Taylor said.

The parks will also be the site of the Kid Zone and concerts that weekend, which will hosted by the Mooresville 200 group.

Park board member Danny Lundy said he didn’t want to miss out on the potential revenue from allowing camping, but understood staff concerns.

“I’d hate to miss out on the revenue, but it is what it is,” Lundy said. “If we can’t do it, we can’t do it.”

Park board president Matt Saner said his family packed up their pop-up camper and drove to Tennessee to watch a total solar eclipse five years ago.

“Great family memory, would do it again in a heartbeat,” Saner said. “And, I think we have a unique opportunity that’s a once-in-a-generation thing to do something special here. I think it’s a mistake for us not to do it.”

Saner later asked if the park should have ticketed access onto the property the day of the actual eclipse in order to limit the number of vehicles in Pioneer Park that day.

He noted there were three things the board needed to vote on — including whether the park needed to not allow the sports leagues to begin their seasons that weekend, whether the park would ticket vehicle entrance onto the property and whether it would allow camping.

The board unanimously voted, 6-0, to not allow the sports leagues to play the weekend before the eclipse.

The board also voted to enforce a ticket-only policy for vehicles entering the park on April 8. The tickets only apply to vehicles and not anyone who would be walking into the park that day.

Finally, the board decided to allow camping the weekend before and day of the eclipse.

The eclipse is expected to start in the Mooresville area around 1:45 p.m. on April 8 and be at totality around 3 p.m. and last for more than three minutes. The eclipse is then expected to end around 4:20 p.m.

~ By Lance Gideon | Reporter | Published November 22, 2023 in The Morgan County Correspondent