CHARLOTTE, N.C. – From Ballantyne to Charleston, crowds of people in the Carolinas were excited about Monday’s solar eclipse.
NBC Charlotte found a couple hot spots in the heart of Charlotte Monday afternoon.
People packed Romare Bearden Park to watch the big event. They set up chairs, umbrellas and their special glasses. Some of the folks who work in uptown Charlotte said the park was the perfect spot to catch the solar eclipse.
There were also people watching the sky from balconies or parking garages.
NBC Charlotte got a reaction from a couple people after the solar eclipse ended.
“I was expecting it to be a little darker, but it was very cool and it went by very fast," said one woman. "It was a cool experience."
“There’s still a little smidgeon of the sun, so therefore we still have light but it was great, it was great. It was worth buying the glasses and coming to uptown to see,” said another spectator.
Not far away from Romare Bearden Park, there were long lines of people at Sycamore Brewing in South End. The brewery offered a special deal: buy a beer and get free eclipse glasses.
The general manager told NBC Charlotte people were lining up as early as 7:30 a.m.
“It became hard to find glasses, and if they’re going to give me glasses for buying a beer, I was going to buy a beer anyway,” said one customer.
“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime event and my work canceled so we came out,” said another customer.
Sycamore Brewing also brewed a special beer to mark the occasion called Lunarcy Blonde Stout.