Rochester, NY, is prepping for its first total solar eclipse since 1925, which will take place on April 8. To appeal to tourists (who have booked up pretty much all of the city’s hotels) and locals alike, various Rochester institutions have already started rolling out promotional products relating to the eclipse.
The local SUNY campus in nearby Brockport has its online store stocked with black, yellow, and white “Total Eclipse of the Port” merchandise. The store includes blankets, water bottles, mugs, sweatshirts, jackets, hats, and T-shirts.
Brockport will be in the “path of totality,” making the school’s campus one of the best places to view the eclipse, meaning that students who were on campus at the time, as well as eclipse viewers traveling to the school, will want something to commemorate that.
And, let’s be honest here, “Total Eclipse of the Port” is a funny tagline to use.
The local YMCA also released an apparel line, albeit a bit more limited than at SUNY Brockport. The merchandise line, which includes sweatshirts, T-shirts, hats, and tote bags, is all black with a logo depicting the eclipse and “Total Solar Eclipse” with the date, and the YMCA logo.
A science museum, like the Rochester Museum and Science Center, is who you would really expect to get in on the trend, considering this is a great scientific learning opportunity.
The museum’s Solar Eclipse series includes a sweatshirt with the museum’s logo and the eclipse’s date, two tote bags with artistic renderings of an eclipse over the Rochester skyline, and a set of paper eclipse glasses for safe sun-staring.
Finally, if people are visiting from out of town, you need to make sure the hospitality and culinary destinations are in on it, too, right?
Heron Hill Winery not only has merchandise like eclipse glasses, eclipse stickers, and T-shirts, but also special edition wines with moon-themed labels.
Three local breweries, too, are teaming up for three special beers to correspond with the phases of the Eclipse. Strangebird, Rohrbach Brewing Company, and Three Heads created “The Lighter Side,” “Totality,” and “The Darker Side” respectively. Each has a special label with the brewery’s logo at the bottom, and a corresponding image of the phase of the eclipse the beer represents.
The upcoming total solar eclipse will draw tourists from near and far, providing a unique opportunity to showcase the creativity of our community's talented local businesses.
Cheers to Rohrbach, Three Heads, and Strangebird on this idea! https://t.co/9tzqifyqjm
— Joe Morelle (@RepJoeMorelle) February 27, 2024
For a city like Rochester, which has name recognition but isn’t at the top of a tourism ranking, events like this are crucial. The more people it can get to town, the better. And once they are there to stare at the sun, they need to get people to spend money at the local businesses, like breweries, wineries, and museums. Getting in on the hype now is smart, and finding ways to be clever with logos and design makes each product something someone will want to keep after they leave town—or, if they’re local, something they’ll want to keep to remember a fun time in their city’s history.
