In Bristol, crowds take in solar eclipse with awe as clouds break enough for show

The solar eclipse covered Bucks County under cloudy skies Monday afternoon, but despite that, it was an awesome show. Fun, too.

At the Grundy Library in Bristol, it was a fiesta and a picnic as warm spring temps brought out hundreds of people, especially kids, who were released early from school to romp on the lawns along the Delaware River.

"Don't do that!" was commonly heard from grownups, as kids checked out the progress above, looking directly into the sun without special protective eclipse glasses.

Caryn Search, of Levittown, was with her twin 15-year-olds, Alex and Sarah, as she stretched out on a blanket placed on the lawn and, eclipse glasses in place, tested them.

"I'm waiting for my mother," she said. "We were here seven years ago and said she wanted to see this one, too."

Her mother, Andrea Mihaly, soon arrived, and was in great spirits, not only because of the eclipse, but because it was her 81st birthday, too.

Along the river, mumurs of disappointment were heard as cloud cover turned the the sun into a yellow blur. Hours earlier, the skies were cloudless and the sun seemed brighter than usual, maybe it was the anticipation of things to come.

George Steinfeldt, a retired high school photography teacher, had set up an expensive-looking camera to catch to the celestial event. "A week ago they said it was going to be full sun," he said.

But then there were cheers from the crowd as the clouds passed, but then scattered boos as more came in.

Despite clouds, Mother Nature cooperated just enough as the maximum viewing time got close at 3:23 p.m. Starting around 3:17 p.m., those with glasses could see the partial eclipse and what was left of the sun's warm orange behind the moon.

At 3:24 p.m., the height of the eclipse, everyone looked skyward as the moon crossed in front of the sun until just a crescent of brilliant sunlight was visible. "Oh, wow!" a woman said, as another applauded.

Kids were momentarily transfixed, as adults gazed at the awesome event.

"We were in Boseman, Montana during the last eclipse (in August 2017), and we were at the Boseman library," said Peter Mulcahy, of Morrisville. "Now we're here watching this one, and we're also at a library."

Twenty minutes after the full eclipse, Steve Jackson, of Bristol Township, was on a bench at the Grundy library, taking it in.

"Awesome," he said, adding that he caught glimpses of the event without wearing special solar glasses. "Yeah, I looked. I don't think it's gonna hurt me."

It didn't seem to bother Dori Brendenborg, of Bensalem.

"When's the next eclipse? 2044? Well, it's now or never. No one in my generation will be here to see the next one. Well, we'll see it, but from above," she joked.

JD Mullane can be reached at 215-949-5745 or at jmullane@couriertimes.com.

This article originally appeared on Bucks County Courier Times: Bucks County solar eclipse worth waiting for in Bristol