Eclipse gets eclipsed--but the crowd doesn't seem to mind

A large and festive crowd of eclipse watchers at Luther College

A huge crowd gathered on the lawn in front of the Luther College library on Monday afternoon to view the partial eclipse of the sun.

While the height of the eclipse was charted for 1:10 p.m., viewers couldn't see much because of a layer of clouds that covered the sky.

However, the large number of eclipse watchers gave the event a festive air.  Luther College Society of Physics Students vice president Zach Martin said he and the other SPS organizers were surprised by the huge turnout on the library lawn: "We only ordered 150 pairs of eclipse glasses because we figured many people would travel south to view the total eclipse. We are surprised by the great turnout and we're thrilled so many in the community came to view the eclipse," he told decorahnews.com's Sara Peterson.

Celia Lesmeister was at the Luther viewing event with a group of girls from the DHS cross country team.  She said, "Even though we can't see the eclipse very well because of the clouds, the environment here is still very fun and festive."

Eclipse glasses handed out by the SPS were hampered by the clouds, but some people found a way around that--looking at the eclipse through a welder's mask.

Some used "eclipse glasses"...

...while Stephanie Folkedahl tried on a welder's mask