EVANSVILLE, Ind. (WKRN) — Tennesseans will have to travel out of state to see Monday’s eclipse in its totality. That includes Evansville, Indiana, where the city has been prepping for two years.

“We’re thrilled to have people come and maybe explore Evansville for the first time, and we hope that they get a taste of the city and want to come back,” said Explore Evansville Marketing and Development Director Kate Reibel.

She said a group convened back in 2022 to start preparing. That included meetings with emergency management officials, fire, and police to plan for everything, like traffic.

“We definitely have protocols in place to help expedite traffic out of these venues and these events. And then we’re, of course, encouraging folks also to stick around for a little bit after the eclipse — share your experience with the person next to you and just talk to them and understand what they felt during that time, too — but just give yourself a little bit of time before you get back out on the road,” Reibel said. “We will have officers at main intersections; we’ll be making sure that lights stay green a little longer to help move traffic through.”

Officials are expecting up to 80,000 people to flock to the Evansville region to see the total eclipse on Monday and there are several events in place for visitors.

“We’re going to have an awesome event out at the University of Southern Indiana. They’re having a Solarpalooza. They’re going to have food trucks, vendors; they’ll have some folks from our local zoo, who will bring some nocturnal animals so you can see what they do when the lights go out and the sun goes down because they react, they start thinking it’s night,” said Reibel. “Our downtown riverfront will have street closures and will allow folks to be out there to bring their chairs, bring a little picnic if you’d like. And there are eclipse passport cards even that the downtown businesses have gotten in on to encourage folks to go and interact with some of those businesses that are again selling an eclipse drink or have an eclipse soap for you.”

Schools in the region are closed on the day of the eclipse.

Visit Explore Evansville’s website for more information on what’s planned for the event.