A small park in east Fort Worth, Texas captured America’s ‘solar eclipse’ spirit

When the local Walmart was sold out of its “Solar Eclipse” glasses at 8 a.m. on the day of the momentous event, it was the surest sign we had made it. Other than toilet paper during COVID, Walmart has never sold out of anything.

About the same time, Home Depot was out of its lot of eclipse-glasses. The same for a slew of grocery stores.

At 10:15 a.m., a Lowe’s had two pairs of “Eclipse Sunglasses” available. They were $19.98. Non-refundable, but re-usable for “the next one.”

We did it, America. We successfully monetized the sun and the moon. The best part, neither the son nor the moon gets a cut.

The arrival of the solar eclipse shows why America doesn’t need to be great again, but rather what makes her great right now. We don’t need a president to tell us what we live every day: We can sell anything, and convince you that you must buy it.

We can turn any event into another reason to over-drink, over-eat, and over-consume. That is what makes America great. Forget fear mongering politicians, no one taps into FOMO better than US.

We turned an event that lasts the length of Taylor Swift’s hit single “Getaway Car” into an ATM machine.

Airbnb’s going for $1,200 a night. Packed flights from all over the world headed to DFW to join Nerdstock ‘24.

And ... Neil deGrasse Tyson’s Super Bowl delivered a celestial life moment that those of us in the path of “totality” will never forget. Totality was totally awesome.

At noon on Monday afternoon, hundreds of people gathered at the Tandy Hill Natural Area in east Fort Worth. This is about as good of a spot as any in Fort Worth to see the heavens.

There was the Smoke & Bone food truck where people bought the pork nachos and its killer cheeseburger.

Kids played on the swing sets and playground. Academy sports had a tent set up where it made “eclipse” glasses available. Panther Island Brewing offered its Tailgater beer.

Another tent was for the District Barbershop, where the man was giving out a fresh cut. A DJ had a tent where she could provide the base bumpin’ tunes necessary for a solar eclipse.

Then there was the Lune Wellness tent, where one could lay flat on table for light and sound therapy. A yoga class started on site at 12:36 p.m.

People donated money to buy a T-shirt that read, “Solar Eclipse Star Party. Tandy Hills Park. Fort Worth, Texas. April 8, 2024.”

One woman who works at coffee shop in Fort Worth said she worked nine straight days just to ensure she would have this day off. Couples laid on their backs and wore what look like 3-D movie theater glasses to stare at the sun, while praying the clouds held off.

There was something else here that required protective eye wear: porta potties. You can look up, but looking down can cause permanent damage.

We were all here to be here without any real idea of what we were about to witness. Even when the eclipse began and the sun started to look like Pac Man, the general reaction was, “That’s kinda neat ... pass the chips.”

As the moon slowly grabbed more of the sun’s space, and the temperature began to drop, the DJ said, “T-minus four minutes!”

Four minutes later, day was night. The lights came on all over downtown Fort Worth, and everyone watching here was in awe of something that many of us will never see again.

Every now and then the heavens, a higher power or Mother Nature gives us something that eclipses anything man or woman could ever deliver. Looking at you, Taylor Swift, Disney and the Dallas Cowboys.

Every now and then the heavens, a higher power or Mother Nature tells all of us that our problems aren’t that big, and neither are we.

Those four minutes of the total eclipse went by in what felt like 40 seconds. The crowd was quiet, captivated by real life science fiction.

As the moon moved on, and the sun no longer had a shade, people gathered their belongings and headed to their cars. This is one of those rare shared experiences where not a single customer complained.

How cool is that we are alive to experience something like this?

Yes, Americans turned a tidy profit from the solar eclipse but this is one of those instances when all of us who saw it agree it was totally worth it.