On August 21st, 2017 the Sparta Public Library hosted a Solar Eclipse Gathering, in the lawn beside the library. It was a great success and the library had visitors from Trenton, IL, Springfield, IL, Bloomington, IL, Chicago, IL and from the states of Missouri, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Washington and Montana. Unfortunately, we didn’t know where everyone came from but we distributed a total of 383 FREE eclipse glasses. FREE popcorn was also offered and the library gave away 251 bags of popcorn. While everyone silently waited and watched just before totality, the excitement filled the air at the peak.