A flat map of the world set up at the Eclipse Festival headquarters in downtown Casper has become a destination for eclipse tourists.
On Saturday afternoon tourists were gathered around the map at Second and David Streets, taking turns putting pins on their hometowns while others marveled at the sheer numbers of locations from around the world.
“Who knew a map ordered from Amazon would be the biggest hit,” said Eclipse Festival executive director Anna Wilcox. Wilcox has already talked to museum organizers about the eventual fate of the map after the eclipse is over.
“We’re hoping we’ll have a permanent residence somewhere,” said Wilcox.
The pins mark nearly every continent and many islands. “We watched a guy put a pin in there and it’s out on the ocean and not a piece of land,” said Wilcox.
Wilcox is most surprised at the number of visitors in Casper who live in the path of the eclipse. “I assumed there’d be a visible gap through the center of the U.S.,” said Wilcox. “The entire thing is filled, even though they already live where they’d experience it. They came here.”
