February 7, 2024
Most of us in Vermont have already circled the date on our calendar. Assuming, of course, that you HAVE a calendar. I do. It’s literally a leather-covered, spiral-bound, paper calendar.
And I have noted in it that, on April 8th, Vermont will be experiencing a total solar eclipse.
My little town of Thetford will be just a smidge outside the path of totality, but the folks up in St. Albans, near the Canadian border, are preparing for an onslaught of close to 30,000 visitors (or more than twice the population of the town) who want the full monty.
And short-term rentals all across the northern part of the State are already skyrocketing.
According to data scraped from Airbnb, Vrbo and booking.com, the market occupancy for the night of April 7, which would be the night before the eclipse, is already sitting at 42.8% for the entire state. At this time last year, the occupancy for that same Sunday night was 9.6%.
In northern Vermont, where the total eclipse will be visible, just under 80% of listings for April 7 are already booked.
With our luck, it will be cloudy and rainy.