Joliet Junior College’s Public Viewing Event for the October 14, 2023 Solar Eclipse

Joliet Junior College, a community college in Joliet, IL, celebrated the October 14, 2023 Annular Solar Eclipse by hosting free public viewing even though the eclipse was partial from Joliet. On this day, the Sun's disk was 44.3% occluded by the Moon at maximum eclipse. I organized the viewing event for the October 2023 eclipse with the help of several faculty members, staff and students. Unfortunately, we could not see the eclipse due to thick clouds and occasional rain. However, around 80 people attended the event and were shown NASA's live feed of the eclipse, and a short show on eclipses and the Sun in the college's Trackman planetarium (the show was added because of the inclement weather). Free custom eclipse viewers were also given to attendees. I am now planning a similar public event for the April 8, 2024 Total Solar Eclipse with faculty members and staff who helped organize the 2023 event, even though Joliet will not experience totality. The Sun will be 94.2% occluded by the Moon at maximum eclipse from Joliet. Student volunteers will be recruited about a month before the event. In this article, I describe how we prepared for the 2023 event, and the plans for the 2024 event. Many of the preparations are the same as those used to successfully host viewing of the August 21, 2017 solar eclipse at the college. I end the article with tips on how to successfully organize a public solar eclipse viewing event based on my experience so far.