Local officials continue to hype the need to be prepared for the total solar eclipse on April 8. 

Given the confluence of events happening in downtown that day – including the Guardians home opener – police and others are warning of traffic armageddon.

At a news conference Thursday, Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb, Cuyahoga County Executive Chris Ronayne and their big-crowd management teams kept up the drumbeat, urging drivers to come with full gas tanks, extra food and charged cell phones. The city has already announced road closures and no-parking bans to ease congestion. 

One thing not discussed was Edgewater Park – and camping. 

The city park is managed by the Cleveland Metroparks, which has made spectacular improvements there since taking the reins in 2013. But sometimes too much of a good thing has proved to be a problem. Edgewater Live, the hugely popular sunset concert series on Cleveland’s lakefront, was shelved in 2020 during the pandemic but never returned because it generated traffic and parking problems in the park and the surrounding neighborhoods and strained the Metroparks police and other departments

Next month, Edgewater Park is expected to be a key destination for eclipse watching. But don’t plan on making it a vacation. Camping in the park is illegal, and the Metroparks will be watching for encampments. 

Cleveland City Hall also will be on the lookout for makeshift camgrounds around the city.

Both the Metroparks and City Hall told Signal Cleveland that the two have discussed the solar eclipse and that the park system will remain responsible for what’s happening inside Edgewater Park while the city will focus on the roadways.

What’s been left unsaid is that visitors to Cleveland are on their own if the roadways turn into a scene from “The Walking Dead” during the four and half minutes of darkness.

Find additional news and information about the April 8 solar eclipse here.