Texas officials expect more than 1 million people to visit the state Monday (April 8) for a chance to experience a rare total solar eclipse in the state that will be visible from the Texas border town of Eagle Point to Texarkana.
To mark the event, the state will host more than a dozen festivals celebrating in true Texas style: from the Salt Lick BBQ Festival celebrating Texas Hill Country favorites Driftwood brisket and ribs to the rugged Texas Traditions Festival, where the attendees must sign a waiver acknowledging the danger posed by “venomous snakes, reptiles, spiders and insects; sick or frightened animals, dogs, traps and snares; ladders, deer blinds, trucks, jeeps and four-wheelers.”
But the state's biggest celebration will be the Texas Eclipse festival, held on a huge ranch in Burnet, Texas, 100 miles north of San Antonio. Texas Eclipse is organized by a fledgling alliance of independent promoters, including longtime EDM promoter James Estopinal and his newly revamped Texas Disco Presents concert. technologist, entrepreneur and founder of the Texas Eclipse Festival and “head aligner” Mitch Morales; and California-based festival organizer, curator and producer Gwen Gressen from Symbiosis Gathering.
Texas Eclipse is headlined by UK superstar Paul Oakenfold, American indie dance duo Big Gigantic, veteran dance producer Tycho and Philly dubstep superstar Subtronics. Other performers include jam scene super franchises like String Cheese Incident, Disco Biscuits, Joe Russo's Almost Dead along with dozens of others including CloZee, Boogie T, LP Giobbi, Zeds Dead and Bob Moses, who will appear on six curated stages and designed by the festival's 12 global partners.
“People are drawn to eclipses in part because of the possibility of experiencing something bigger than themselves,” says Gruesen, who is the only one of the three organizers to have seen an eclipse in person, having assembled more than half a dozen festivals. and experiences from North America to Australia around totality events like the one taking place on Monday. He notes that it's the job of event organizers not to supplement the experience but to create opportunities to highlight the eclipse as a headliner.
At this point, Morales adds, “We're not planning content during totality. We don't think we need to increase that experience.”
Music represents just a fraction of bookings for the camping festival, which also features hundreds of speakers, including mushroom experts Paul Stametsenvironmentalist Adrian Grenier and more than 20 astronauts and researchers from the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies. Participants can attend yoga, movement and meditation instruction and experience immersive art from the Meow Wolf collective as well as workshops from a visionary artist and storyteller Hannah Muse.
Estopinal, a veteran live music promoter who played a key role in popularizing raves and live EDM shows starting in the 1990s, says Advertising sign that the Texas Eclipse was one of the most challenging events he has ever promoted due to its geographic isolation and the sheer size of the site being constructed.
“This is something I will never forget and I am excited to achieve it,” says Estopinal. “From the size of the event, to the sheer scale, it's unlike anything I've ever seen and I can't wait to see what happens.”
The 2024 eclipse will be visible for the first time in the coastal city of Sinaloan, Mazatlán, Mexico around 11 am. CT. In the US, it will be visible in Eagle Pass, Texas starting at 1:30 p.m. CT and slowly moves northeast through Texarkana, Ark., before passing into Missouri, Kentucky, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennyslvania, New York, Vermont and New Hampshire. The total eclipse will end its journey across the US in Caribou, Maine, before passing through New Brunswick, Canada. It will be last seen on the French islands of Saint Pierre and Miquelon.
