Where History
Happened
‘City
of
Roses’
Heritage Center
works to save
landmarks
Vision Tests
after Eclipse
Looking at sun can
damage the eyes
See story, page 7
See Local News, page 3
s herri c hien -n iclas
Volume XLVI • Number 34
www.portlandobserver.com
Wednesday • August 23, 2017
Established in 1970
Committed to Cultural Diversity
photo by M ichael l eighton /p ortland o bserver e ditor
A group of visitors from Seattle gather on the lawn at Peninsula Park in north Portland Monday morning to view the Great Solar Eclipse.
The Great Solar Eclipse
Amazing sight
wows crowds
c hrista M c i ntyre
t he p ortland o bserver
For a few minutes on Monday morning,
the hustle and bustle of Portland’s streets
came to a pause as the moon passed over
the face of the sun.
by
Families and friends gathered in green
spaces and parks, lounging on picnic blan-
kets and relaxing in foldout camping chairs
all over the city to view a nearly complete
solar eclipse on a bright and sunny morn-
ing. The path of complete totality was just
south of Portland, stretching from Lincoln
City, over Salem, Madras and John Day to
the Idaho border.
Starting shortly after 9 a.m. on Monday,
the celestial event began. Portlanders could
be seen outside their homes, slipping on
paper eclipse glasses with black film lenses
to view a curved shadow engulfing the sun.
Checking their watches for 10:19 a.m. as
peak eclipse time edged closer, there was
peaceful anticipation in the faces of peo-
ple grouped together to view the spectac-
ular event. At 99 percent totality, the skies
over Portland and southwest Washington
dimmed but did not completely darken.
As the moon made its way in front of the
sun, a filtered light took over and a quick
cooler breeze swept by. Waving patterns
of crescent moon shadows covered the
ground, the sides of buildings and fences.
The birds, insects and animals were silent.
Other people on the job or on their way
to work pulled over in cars, stopped pedal-
ing their bikes and gathered on sidewalks
to look up and experience the show. Busy
c ontinued on p age 7