TJC's Earth and Space Science Center featuring Hudnall Planetarium has been named Visit Tyler’s first-ever Tourism Partner of the Year.
The science center and its staff were honored for their vital role in the city’s events surrounding the April 8 total solar eclipse, which provided a $7.7 million boost to the local economy.
During Thursday’s award presentation at the W.T. Brookshire Conference Center, Visit Tyler President Diann Bayes said, “In April 2024, visitors from across Texas, the U.S., and the world arrived in Tyler on an overcast morning, with hopes that they would get a glimpse of an event that would not occur again in this area in their lifetime. Those individuals would not have known to come to our city had it not been for marketing and promotion to them.”
Bayes recalled a critical email she sent to TJC science center director Dr. Beau Hartweg in January 2023, inquiring about the total solar eclipse that would be occurring in Tyler more than a year later. Hartweg hastily responded, and thus began 16 months of planning and collaboration.
During his acceptance speech, Hartweg said, “I remember that first email and then phone call with Diann, and I remember feeling so grateful that there was an ally that could help rally the troops and get the message out there to all the business and organizations to make this a truly momentous event.”
Bayes said, “Though the staff at the Earth and Space Science Center had regular duties to focus on aside from the eclipse during the year and a half of planning, they were always professional and willing to share information to anyone in need of knowledge about the upcoming celestial event. Soon the event was branded Totality Tyler, and the day of activities expanded to a week.”
More than 50 businesses across the city stepped up to offer eclipse-themed experiences to those visiting Tyler during the week leading up to the eclipse.
“While the sky was overcast that day as the eclipse started, the clouds opened to reveal a phenomenon none of us will soon forget; and visitors to Tyler will keep our community in their memories because of their experience,” she said.
From left, Dr. Beau Hartweg, TJC science center director, and Diann Bayes, Visit Tyler president.
“On the day of the eclipse, Visit Tyler saw record numbers of visitors from across the globe, selling more branded merchandise in a day than we had in the entire month prior. According to UT Tyler’s Hibbs Institute for Business and Economic Research, visitors brought in nearly $7.7 million dollars into our city during the eclipse. Hotels, restaurants, retail business, attractions, the airport, convenience stores and more saw the benefits of our community during Totality Tyler. Without the knowledge we acquired from the staff at the TJC science center, we would not have seen the event be the success it was.”
Hartweg said, “I want to thank [TJC President] Dr. Juan Mejia at TJC for supporting the Earth and Space Science Center as an important resource for the community. Planetariums are not very common in a lot of cities, and Tyler is quite blessed to have this resource. Our role was to be the East Texas information hub for the solar eclipse. That’s what we tried to do. We distributed over 30,000 eclipse glasses as well as working with planning so many events all around the city and thinking through the logistics of all of that.”
In addition to his science center staff members Gayla Morrison and Cindy Wingate, Hartweg also thanked city and county officials for their support and assistance.
“Knowing you were concerned with the public safety and thinking through those logistics gave me a great deal of ease and comfort,” he said. “Some of those meetings made my eyes pop open to think that there were some things I hadn’t considered before, but I was glad that we had the people who were doing that.”
Hartweg also expressed appreciation to the East Texas Symphony Orchestra, Executive Director Robin Hampton and Maestro Richard Lee for their collaboration on the ETSO’s eclipse-themed “Totality of the Sun” concert on the TJC central campus.
“I’m a science person, but this was a great way to collaborate and bring in that artistic element of the natural beauty that was happening,” Hartweg said.
“This was a great event but what I’m so excited for is that it was a springboard for future events and collaborations for our businesses and organizations in the city by using a central event to host so many different things. I’m so excited to see this continue. There’s not going to be another total solar eclipse in Tyler for 300 years, but this is going to be a springboard and proof of concept for how we can collaborate moving forward.”
For more information on upcoming science center events, go to ScienceCenter.TJC.edu.