The total solar eclipse is Monday, in case you didn’t know. 

The cosmic event is certainly worth the months of hype because the phenomenon hasn’t been visible in Ohio since 1806. 

Cleveland is a prime spot to view it, so it’s understandable that the local media, including Signal Cleveland, have been all over the news, covering everything from how to make a pinhole camera and where to attend free celebrations to the economic impact of visitors. Cleveland and Cuyahoga County officials have been focused on scaremongering around issues of parking and traffic (as they should be). 

But there’s been a key question missed by everyone – one that will be asked with the urgency of desperate people waiting for hours in Times Square to see the ball drop on New Year’s Eve. 

Where the hell can I go to the bathroom? 

Many public buildings are closed Monday just as tens of thousands of people are expected to flood the city, from Edgewater Park to North Coast Harbor. So we put this all important question to City Hall and others. 

While the officials couldn’t produce a map of where you can relieve yourself, the city identified some general locations where it’s dispatching portable bathrooms. 

You will find them at Lakefront Municipal Parking Lot, home to drunken tailgating during Browns season. And it’s close to the epicenter of eclipse action at the Great Lakes Science Center. North Coast Harbor will have portable bathrooms out as well. 

The city said to look for the boxy bathrooms around lawns at Mall B and Mall C. 

Downtown Cleveland Inc., a nonprofit that promotes the central area and maintains some of the cityscape, told us it’s not on bathroom duty Monday. 

“The City of Cleveland is handling and managing public restrooms,” the organization said in a statement.

Restrooms at area parks are open but are not necessarily built to withstand the volume of people expected to use them. So look for some portable bathrooms to also be available. Cleveland recreation centers are open, and some are promoting events around the eclipse. (Pro tip: dehydration will be your friend.) 

No one really knows how messy the bathroom situation will be Monday. But the upside is that the city will have plenty of time to recalibrate a plan before the next total solar eclipse over Cleveland in 2444.

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

Signal Statewide Bureau Chief/Editor-At-Large
I assist a team of storytellers as they pursue original enterprise and investigative stories that capture untold narratives about people and policies. I use my decades of experience in print, digital and broadcast media to help Signal staff build skills to present stories in useful and interesting ways.