The Vermonters going all in on the eclipse, from a church to a septic company

The calls started last year, from people with seasonal properties and Airbnbs.

“They've got invited guests coming, and they said, 'Well, we don't want everybody using our bathroom, so we're going to rent a porta-let,'” said Kim Littlefield.

She runs Complete Excavation and Septic Services in Isle La Motte, which rents out port-a-potties and other portable restrooms.

“So I said, ‘Wow, OK, I better expand this,’ and put a little ad out there for anybody — parties and whatnot, that people may be doing celebrations for,” Littlefield said.

The ad she put together is a collage of three photos stacked on top of each other — of a solar eclipse, people wearing eclipse glasses and Littlefield with her staff in front of a row of port-a-potties. Text over the images reads: “Be a part of History — Solar Eclipse,” with the company’s phone number.

It ran on social media at the beginning of the year. And since then, the calls have kept coming.

“We're getting a lot of, ‘Oh God, am I too late? I know this is a big deal. Do you have any units left?’” Littlefield said. “It’s almost gone viral.”

She’s booked rentals at restaurants, state parks, the City of St. Albans and the town of Alburgh — they’re hosting a three-day festival with fireworks and a parade.

Many towns are planning similar events, and the financial boost from visitors spread out in so many places could add up to between $10 million to $20 million, according to state estimates.

“That’s conservative, but it’s certainly possible we might see that kind of ballpark,” said Heather Pelham, the commissioner of the Vermont Department of Tourism and Marketing.

The eclipse comes at an opportune time: April typically sees the fewest tourists to Vermont of any month. Last year, visitors spent about $125 million in April, compared to closer to over $250 million in the leaf-peeping days of October.

And all sorts of places are hoping to get in on the action, like a church in Vermont’s largest city.

“We created a homestay program where we’ve asked congregants to host basically strangers who are coming here for the eclipse as a fundraiser for the congregation,” said the Rev. Karen G. Johnston, who leads the First Unitarian Universalist Society of Burlington.

On a recent sunny afternoon in the church’s sanctuary, she was wearing tights covered in stars and a black dress with an image of the moon passing over the sun.

She says the idea for the fundraiser came from a few church members. They built a website, designed a T-shirt, and organized over 20 listings for sale — ranging from $100 a night for a pullout couch to $1,500 a night for a three-bedroom apartment.

One of those offerings belongs to Mark Kuprych. He runs a short-term rental in his building that sold immediately.

“For quite a bit of money,” he said. “So that will be a tremendous donation to the Society here. And then I said, ‘What the heck, I’m going to stay with a friend of mine,’ so I rented my own apartment.”

Church members also wanted to participate in the fundraiser to give visitors an opportunity to experience the eclipse. Louis deRosset said that was something he missed out on when an eclipse happened while he was in elementary school in Louisiana.

“They made us all stay inside because they didn’t have eclipse glasses and wanted to keep us safe,” he said. “So we stayed inside and watched a TV broadcast of the eclipse while it got dark outside.”

This time around, he’s excited to see his first total solar eclipse with his family. He hasn’t decided on where exactly he’ll go yet.

Neither has Kim Littlefield, with the septic company in Isle La Motte.

“From what I'm hearing, traffic is going to be jammed,” she said. “It’s almost being declared as a national holiday.”

She’s thinking of telling her staff to take the day off, so they also have a chance to "be a part of history."

This story is a production of the New England News Collaborative. It was originally published by Vermont Public.