Traffic slowed to a crawl and gas stations were inundated with vehicles in Central Oregon Wednesday as the first wave of eclipse watchers descended on rural highways for a music festival near Prineville.
Approximately 30,000 are expected to attend the five-day Symbiosis Gathering in Big Summit Prairie. Early entry passes allowed attendees to arrive starting at noon.
“We’re the last town that people would go through to arrive at that event,” Casey Kaiser, executive director of the Prineville and Crook County Chamber of Commerce, said. “That’s what we believed was reflected this morning.”
He suspected business at fueling stations and grocery stores was a mix of visitors and residents stocking up in anticipation of larger crowds expected through the weekend.
Both Kaiser and officials in Crook County said they saw an uptick in traffic throughout the morning and afternoon but leveled off by about 4 p.m. TripCheck showed delays of 20 minutes or more on highways 26 and 126 in the area for much of the early afternoon.
Kaiser said area gas stations ordered 20 percent more fuel than they would for a busy holiday weekend in anticipation of the extra traffic.
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SOURCE: Eder Campuzano
The Oregonian/OregonLive
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