FARMINGTON, Mo. — It's been a week since the Great American Solar Eclipse. Many parts of our viewing area were in the path of totality, including Farmington, Missouri.
A week later, Farmington reports the number of people who visited during the eclipse, where they went in the community, and where they came from.
Eclipse tourism could generate hundreds of thousands of dollars for the area, all from just one weekend.
Farmington's eclipse watch party at Engler Park last Monday drew in people from all over the country - and the world.
Their watch party caught attention all the way from California. Cameron Avila and his family flew in last week with one main destination in mind: Farmington.
"We stumbled upon the fact that Farmington was having a total eclipse of the heart watch party," said Cameron.
About 4,000 visitors trickled into Engler Park and their community that weekend, which was an amount Cameron hadn't expected.
"I thought it was going to be busy. But 4,000, that's a lot of people. That's more than I expected, but we had no idea what to expect," Cameron said.
Someone else who wasn't expecting the large crowds was Deena Ward, the Director of Events & Operations at the Farmington Regional Chamber.
"I don't think we were ready for that. We knew we were going to have some people from St. Louis, but we were not anticipating the amount of people coming from out of state like we had. We were not expecting that, but we were very happy with the turnout," Deena said.
Farmington's eclipse watch party also attracted people from almost every state and even different countries.
"What makes this so different is that we had so many people from out of state. We had the largest number of visitors from Minnesota, which was surprising, followed by Iowa and Wisconsin," said Deena.
Businesses such as Walmart benefited from the large crowds coming in.
Many did sales in one day of what they would typically do during an entire weekend.
So, how much did they generate from the eclipse? Deena said, "With every hotel sold out and that many people coming into the restaurants, it would probably be hundreds of thousands of dollars easily."
Momentum from the weekend could trickle down and last through the end of the year for the area.
"Eventually, it'll just grow exponentially because as businesses grow and people start coming to the community, that adds tourism dollars, then that adds infrastructure dollars, which adds even more jobs and opportunities."
The watch party caught the attention of thousands; it left a lasting impact on the city and those who visited.
"It was the people who made the event so special, who made such a difference, and who made it memorable," said Cameron.
Farmington Regional Chamber hopes the event will bring all those visitors back to their city and have a lasting impact.
Cameron and his family say they're ready to return to Farmington soon.
To watch 5 On Your Side broadcasts or reports 24/7, 5 On Your Side is always streaming on 5+. Download for free on Roku, Amazon Fire TV or the Apple TV App Store.