As crowds converge on Idaho, small towns gird for influx

BOISE – Several communities throughout south-central Idaho are already seeing crowds, and are anticipating even more. The path of totality will enter the state from the west at Weiser and exit after passing over Rexburg and Idaho Falls. Weiser, a farming town of about 5,500 that sits right against the Oregon border, is expected to be one of the best spots in the nation for viewing the eclipse, with unobstructed views of the total eclipse for two minutes and five seconds starting at 11:25 a.m.

Weiser is 74 miles from Boise, with much of the journey on two-lane highway. The eclipse is expected to turn the journey into an all-day affair – or longer. As in other places along the eclipse path, traffic officials are cautioning motorists to expect major delays.

“The rumor is 10 hours, Boise to Weiser,” said a clerk at City Hall. “That’s just the rumor.”

Others said they thought five hours might be a more reasonable guess.

Traffic counts at Fruitland, Idaho.

Patrick Nauman is the owner of Weiser Classic Candy and a native of the town. He’s also the chairman of the local group putting on a festival of events for the occasion. He said the number of visitors expected exceeds anything the town has ever seen – much larger than the annual Old-Time Fiddle Festival in the town, which bills itself as the “Fiddling Capital of the World.”

“The best guess-timates we’ve been able to pull together is 60,000 to 70,000” visitors for the eclipse, Nauman said. “The (fiddle festival) attracts about 15,000 people for the entire week.”

The 24-room Colonial Motel has been booked since July, according to the Idaho Statesman. People are camping on practically any level surface. Residents are renting out homes, bedrooms and basements – even idle 5th-wheel trailers. One home was posted on Air BnB for $1,600 a night, but another resident – who offered a Spokesman-Review reporter and two kids lodgings in his camp trailer for $150 – said he wasn’t trying to get rich.