People watch the eclipse at the Downtown Tyler square as totality occurs. (Raquel Villatoro/Tyler Morning Telegraph)

Lake Charles, Louisiana resident Carolyn Sims drove 4 hours and 30 minutes with her daughter Phoenix Sims, 13, to experience the total solar eclipse in Tyler.

“A total eclipse won’t go through the United States until 2044,” Carolyn said. “So I figured if we’re going to see it, this is the time.”

After looking at cities in the path of totality, Carolyn chose Tyler because there would be less traffic than somewhere like Austin and lodging was more affordable. They chose to watch the eclipse at One Eleven, an event venue on the downtown square on Erwin Street, because of its rooftop view.

“On top of a building, you can’t get a better view,” Carolyn said. “This is it.”

Driving to Tyler, the mother-daughter pair enjoyed seeing the hills and nature. Phoenix noted she enjoyed seeing the longhorns and cows.

Phoenix was excited to get the day off school to see the eclipse. Her mom was able to get her daughter an excused absence for the trip.

During the total solar eclipse, Phoenix said she was excited to see the corona and when the moon covered the sun and it went dark.

“I’ve been taking pictures of [the sun],” Phoenix said. “Every five minutes I’m like, ‘Mom, it moved!’”

People gathered at the downtown square to watch the eclipse. Local businesses had various events including music at Liberty Hall, a watch party at One Eleven, activities at Discovery Science Place, and more.

Since Tyler was in the path of totality, promising a rare celestial viewing, it attracted visitors from all over, including London, England, Venezuela, Brazil, Canada, California, Hawaii and New Jersey, said Diann Bayes, Visit Tyler president.

On the morning of the eclipse, Visit Tyler opened its downtown visitors center earlier than usual after seeing the long line for eclipse glasses. Employees normally open the center at 10 a.m. but had to open at 8:15 a.m. They saw a steady flow of people all day.

“It’s exciting,” Bayes said. “[We] love seeing all these folks here. We have a little bit of overcast but we expect … we’re gonna get a great picture.”

The clouds parted just enough to show off the eclipse and all its wonder. Tyler experienced one minute and 49 seconds of total darkness. The moment totality began and the day turned to seemingly night, the crowd cheered with excitement.

Tyler resident Keli Sparks came to play bingo and listen to live music at Liberty Hall, one of many events downtown as part of Totality Tyler. She lives near downtown and wanted to come out and see the total solar eclipse for the first time. She took the day off work to enjoy the events with her husband.

Nacogdoches resident Caitlyn Skinner —wearing an eclipse shirt from ‘Twilight’ with characters Bella, Edward and Jacob — has been looking forward to seeing the total solar eclipse since last year. In 2017, she saw a bit of the total solar eclipse but at the time did not know a lot about it.

“I’m glad my boss let me take off work,” Skinner said.

Musicians played on the square throughout the day including the Tyler Junior College Apache Band. TJC freshman Rian Howard, originally from Van, saw the eclipse from the square.

“It was really cool,” Howard said. “It was a cool, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”

In the moment, Howard felt it was a unique and “mind-blowing” experience. He saw light shining through the clouds when the moon covered the sun.

“You got to see the rainbow effect and it was really beautiful,” Howard said. “And then the dark and coolness around it was a really cool atmosphere.”

Lucero Rosado came from Troup to see the eclipse with her cousin, who followed the eclipse for the last two years. They decided to see the eclipse from the square to be around people.

“It was very pretty and then the experience of seeing it got dark suddenly,” Rosado said. “All the people were very happy [and] shouting.”

Tyler residents Shyana Toole and Gabby Self watched the eclipse on the square since it is near where they work.

For Toole, hearing all the excitement and reactions was her favorite part of watching the total solar eclipse.

“It’s totally sick,” Toole said. “That’s a once-in-a-lifetime thing to ever see.”

Toole saw the corona, the sun’s outermost part. They both noticed red dots at the bottom of the sun. Self felt multiple feelings as she watched. She originally thought the sky would be more orange, like a sunset. However, it was more dark and gray.

Self also said it was a rare thing to see.

“It was a lot. There’s a lot of feelings that come with it too. When you’re watching, it’s a very full body experience,” Self said.