A rare solar eclipse crossed North America, reaching totality in states like Texas, Arkansas, Indiana and Ohio. From Montana, a partial eclipse was visible in different phases between 11:30 am and 1:30 pm, but cloudy skies across the state made it hard to see for many onlookers.
Billings residents Monday gathered to watch the eclipse from their yards, the campus of Montana State University Billings and Castle Rock Park, where a break in the clouds let the sun shine through just enough so that 7-year-old Isabel could describe the eclipse through a pair of protective glasses.
“It looks like a big black sky with a half-eaten pancake in the middle of it,” she said.
Her mother, Brianne Schultz, homeschools Isabel and her two other daughters and says the field trip will play a role in the lessons of the day.
“We have a unit study, so we'll go through it together and learn about all the phases of the eclipse,” she said.
Providing the specialized glasses - and free ice cream sandwiches - is the Billings public library and the city parks department. Jake Milliron with the parks department says the eclipse in this region lasts a couple of hours.
“That’s why we brought games and activities along,” he said. “Because staring at the sun for two hours wasn’t ever the goal. Having a little bit of fun and getting folks active in the parks was the goal here.”
He estimates around 120 or 150 people joined. Many arrived with small children who ran around on the playground or played ball in the field below. It just gets sunnier as the day progresses.
It’s a happy surprise to Susan Plath, a retired Billings local here with her grandson and a sister visiting from Washington.
“I was trying not to be sad about all the clouds and just hoping that we’d get at least one glimpse,” she said. “But we’ve had much more than that. Much more than I could have hoped for.”
