By BOB SHRALUKA
WZBD.com
Okay, let’s have a round of applause, please, for Ma Nature. In fact, make that a Standing O (ovation).
Right on time, and with a gracious wave of the wind, she brought Decatur and the area a perfect Eclipse Day. Almost overnight, gone with those cruddy days of highs in the low 40s, chilling winds, and more clouds than Caitlin Clark/Zach Edey had points.

Instead, Mother N threw away all the clouds, kicked the temps into the low 70s and offered us a glorious day for observing a once-in-a-lifetime event.
Her efforts enabled people to spread their blankets, open their lawn chairs, and fill the backs of their pickups all over the city. It reminded one of 500 race day at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Folks tossing a football or a Frisbee, cranking up some music, reaching in the food basket, and/or cracking a cold one was the overall order of the day … until time for the Big Event, that is.

As southbound traffic was filling up 13th St., huge crowds of people were filling up places like the REV Sports Complex, the Mirage, the Church of God, Legion Park, Riverside Center, Walmart, Bridge Community Church, Kekionga lake/dog park area, Bellmont schools – and lots and lots and lots of back and front yards.
The police department estimated approximately 4,000 people saw the total eclipse at various locations .
As expected, out-of-towners poured into Decatur, city police estimating that 20,000 to 30,000 passed through.

And how about this for peace and harmony? The police said there were no traffic crashes and no criminal activity. Pat yourselves on the back, folks!
After totality began passing, northbound traffic became very congested, police said. Second St. was backed up from 13th St. all the way through downtown to Five Points at times,
Also, there were times when 13th St. was backed up from the north side of the city from Second St. to CR 450N by Walmart.
It took approximately 45 to 60 minutes for the majority of that congestion to clear up, according to local police.
In a Facebook post, city police said: “We had a high number of officers on duty ready to deal with any potential chaos that came along with the crowd. Thankfully those officers were only needed for patrol duties and to show all our visitors what a great community we have.
“The officers and staff at the Decatur PD are proud to serve our community day in and day out and we hope you all had a wonderful day experiencing this awesome event.”
FOOTNOTE: Asked if all the thousands of leftover eclipse glasses are recyclable, city Operations Manager Jeremy Gibert said: “Probably not.”
However, they may be taken to the Adams County Council on Aging at the MERIT Center (former Northwest school). The council will send the glasses to another non-profit: Eclipse Glasses USA, based in Provo, Utah.
That organization will then donate them to Latin American countries gearing up for an eclipse in August of this year, the council on aging said.