Ohio

Thousands of visitors expected in Ohio for solar eclipse. How will it impact the economy?

Published

2 years ago

March 1, 2024

Thousands of visitors expected in Ohio for solar eclipse. How will it impact the economy?

Ohio is a hot ticket for the April 8 solar eclipse, with the state expected to attract anywhere from 139,000 to 556,000 visitors inside the line of totality, according to estimates from the website GreatAmericanEclipse.com.

As people arrive, there will be significant demand for lodging, food and entertainment.

“It’s a big event. There’s nothing bigger really,” said Brent Sohngen, professor of agricultural, environmental, and development economics at Ohio State University. “I don’t think you can overemphasize that.”

Hotels are already filling up with reservations, and businesses are looking to take advantage. Cedar Point is even opening up early for one day only to observe the eclipse.

Those visiting the Buckeye State are in addition to the 7,275,000 people who live within the path of totality in Ohio.

“We are doing some tracking on this with hotels that are in the path of the eclipse and there definitely is increased demand, especially along the center line and in areas of bigger population,” said Joe Savarise, president and CEO of the Ohio Hotel & Lodging Association.

Ohio hotels are booking up fast for April’s solar eclipse

In Stark County, over 70% of hotel rooms tracked by Visit Canton are booked for the eclipse. Meanwhile, visitors bureaus in Summit and Cuyahoga County said hotels are experiencing high demand, particularly for the night before the eclipse.

Savarise said there are 700 hotels in the state that are within the path of totality in Ohio. An additional 731 hotels are in areas of the partial solar eclipse. There are also a number of campgrounds and other rentals such as Airbnbs and VRBOs.

“What we encourage people to do is No. 1, search for and book your room as quickly as you can because every day availability gets tighter and tighter,” he said. “Also, there definitely are some parts of the state where there is higher demand right now, but not far away from there, still in really good viewing areas, there might be more availability in towns along the path.”

The Ohio Hotel & Lodging Association has been preparing for the eclipse since before 2023. Savarise said the event is an economic opportunity.

What’s the economic impact of the eclipse on Ohio?

In an email, a spokesperson for the Ohio Department of Development said the average visitor to Ohio spends $174 per visit. Considering visitation estimates from GreatAmericanEclipse.com, this could mean an economic boost of anywhere from $24 million to almost $100 million statewide.

“I don’t think that’s a stretch at all. People will be coming in, staying overnight, taking advantage of local attractions, restaurants, buying gas, shopping while they’re here, it’s just exponential,” Savarise said.

If Ohio follows the trend of states impacted by the 2017 total eclipse, the impact could actually gross in the low billions, Sohngen said.

After the 2017 total solar eclipse, the South Carolina Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism estimated the state brought in $269 million in economic impact, about 0.1% of the state’s gross domestic product.

If Ohio were to have the same 0.1% impact, it would amount to $822 million, but Sohngen said it could be even more.

“[In 2017,] some states in the South had it up to 0.25% of total GDP,” he said. “You would expect a lot of people from Pennsylvania, Illinois, etc., to come over here, so my guess is $1 to $2 billion range potentially.”

A total solar eclipse hasn’t occurred in Ohio in over 200 years, and factors like weather could change the outcome.

Barrel Room owner Keri Sullivan: ‘It’s a really big deal’

Many businesses in Northeast Ohio are planning for eclipse visitors by having events or selling limited edition products.

The Barrel Room on Canal, a restaurant in Canal Fulton, will be opening on an off day to host a solar eclipse watch party.

“We’re usually closed on Mondays but we’re opening up because it’s said that we’re going to have one of the best views,” owner Keri Sullivan said.

The restaurant will be open 2 to 9 p.m. and will offer eclipse-themed cocktail and food specials.

“We’re trying to cash in on something pretty cool that isn’t going to happen again anytime soon,” Sullivan said.

She said the event has generated decent interest on Facebook, but she isn’t sure what to expect yet.

“This is kind of unprecedented territory for us,” Sullivan said.

Rubber City Clothing creates special eclipse T-shirt

For Kevin Friend, owner of Rubber City Clothing Co. in Akron, making and selling an eclipse design for T-shirts, hoodies and bags was a no-brainer.

“We had been talking about it and a lady came in and asked if we had a design. That was good enough for me to decide that we should take advantage of this,” he said. “Summit County is doing all kinds of stuff around it, the schools are closed, it’s a really big deal.”

School’s out: Canton City Schools cancels classes, activities for solar eclipse

The design, created by Joëlle Zellman, features a sun and moon over the Akron skyline with the date of the eclipse. The graphic is glow-in-the-dark.

Friend said the eclipse design has been a hit so far and became the bestseller for several weeks.

“It’s an interesting opportunity and a once-in-a-lifetime thing,” he said. “I’m glad we can memorialize it and put designs on stuff that people can keep as souvenirs or wear on shirts.”

Gervasi Vineyard hosting solar eclipse party

Gervasi Vineyard in Canton is hoping to attract visitors with its See + Sip The Solar Eclipse event.

It will be held at the vineyard’s Still House and will feature a signature cocktail, eclipse glasses and live music.

Director of Marketing Andrea Hartman said even though the vineyard is located outside of the path of totality in Canton, it still expects a full turnout for the event.

“From the local audience, we were only able to release a certain amount of tickets because we wanted to make sure we held back enough for our hotel guests,” she said. “The public tickets we have offered are already sold out, our hotel rooms are very close to that, as well.”

The event has a capacity of 125 people, but the vineyard is considering raising it to 150 to accommodate high demand.

“People are looking for something different to do,” Hartman said. “A different wine pairing, a different experience, something fun to do.”

Reach Grace at 330-580-8364 or gspringer@gannett.com. Follow her on X @GraceSpringer16.

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Ohio

Ohio woman sentenced in $775,000 Medicaid scheme

Published

9 hours ago

February 27, 2026

Press Room

COLUMBUS — A Lake County woman was sentenced this morning to jail time and ordered to pay $775,000 in restitution for fraudulently billing Medicaid, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost announced. “She inflated her earnings through brazen fraud, but her scheme burst wide open when our investigators got the case,” Yost said. “Cheating taxpayers comes with […]

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Ohio

‘Catastrophic’ Ohio farm fire kills 6,000 hogs and pigs, officials say

Published

21 hours ago

February 27, 2026

Press Room

‘Catastrophic’ Ohio farm fire kills 6,000 hogs and pigs, officials say

A wind-swept blaze at an Ohio hog farm complex caused “catastrophic” damage and left thousands of pigs dead, fire officials said, marking another devastating barn inferno contributing to the deaths of millions of animals in recent years.

The massive fire occurred on Wednesday, Feb. 25, at Fine Oak Farms in Union Township, Madison County, located west of Ohio’s capital of Columbus, according to the Central Townships Joint Fire District. Fire crews received a report of a barn fire shortly before 12 p.m. local time.

The incident was later upgraded to a commercial structure fire after Chief Brian Bennington observed a “large column of smoke visible from a distance” and requested additional resources. Multiple local fire departments, along with several other emergency agencies, were called to the scene.

“What our crews encountered upon arrival was a very difficult and heartbreaking incident,” Bennington said in a statement on Feb. 26.

The fire chief described the facility as a large farm complex used for hog production consisting of five large agricultural buildings, including four that housed about 7,500 hogs. When crews arrived at the scene, they found two of the barns engulfed in flames, Bennington said.

Crews were challenged by windy conditions that significantly impacted fire suppression efforts, according to Bennington. Three barns were destroyed in the fire, and about 6,000 hogs and pigs were killed.

Firefighters saved one barn and about 1,500 hogs, the fire chief added. No injuries were reported in the incident.

Bennington highlighted the assistance of the farming community throughout Madison and Clark counties, as multiple farmers responded with water trucks to help with water supply efforts. “Rural Ohio’s agricultural community is tight-knit, and they truly step up when one of their own is in need,” he said.

The incident remains under investigation, and the Ohio State Fire Marshal’s Office will determine the fire’s cause and origin. Bennington said there is no suspicion of arson and no ongoing threat to the public at this time.

‘Rapidly changing fire behavior conditions’

Heavy smoke from the fire could be seen for miles, and Bennington said first-arriving units were met with fire conditions coming from the opposite side of the hog farm complex.

The fire chief noted that the incident required extensive water-shuttle operations due to rural water-supply limitations in the area. Crews attempted to cut the fire off by deploying multiple handlines and using an aerial device, but “faced extremely challenging conditions throughout the incident,” according to Bennington.

Sustained winds of about 20 mph with gusts up to 35 mph accelerated the fire’s spread, Bennington said. The high winds made it “extremely difficult” to contain forward fire progression and created “rapidly changing fire behavior conditions” across the agricultural complex, he added.

After about four to five hours, the fire was contained by fire personnel from four different counties, according to the fire chief.

“Unfortunately, the fire resulted in catastrophic damage to the business,” Bennington said in an earlier statement on Feb. 25. “A significant portion of the agricultural structures were destroyed.”

Latest major fire to impact an Ohio hog farm

The incident at Fine Oak Farms is the latest major fire to cause significant damage to an Ohio hog farm in recent years.

In August 2024, about 1,100 pigs were killed in Versailles, a village about 50 miles northwest of Dayton, Ohio, according to data from the nonprofit Animal Welfare Institute. In March 2022, about 2,000 hogs died in a barn fire at Kenneth Scholl Hog Farm in Brown Township, just west of Columbus.

Before the fire at Fine Oak Farms, the Animal Welfare Institute reported that other barn fires in Ohio this year killed 162 sheep, horses, cows, chickens, and other animals.

Hundreds of thousands of animals killed in barn fires each year

Data from the Animal Welfare Institute shows that hundreds of thousands of animals are killed in barn fires across the country each year. Since 2013, over 9 million farm animals have been killed in barn fires, according to the organization.

As of Feb. 26, the Animal Welfare Institute reported that 118,738 farm animals have died in U.S. barn fires this year, including the incident at Fine Oak Farms. The majority of farm animals killed were chickens in separate incidents in North Carolina and Georgia in January, and another incident in Missouri earlier this month.

“Most fatal barn fires occurred in colder states, particularly the Upper Midwest and the Northeast. New York, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Illinois had the highest number of barn fires, respectively,” according to the organization. “The amount of cold weather a state experienced appeared to be a greater factor in the prevalence of barn fires than the intensity of a state’s animal agriculture production.”

In an updated report on farm animal deaths due to barn fires in 2025, the Animal Welfare Institute said more than 2.53 million farm animals were killed in barn fires from 2022 to 2024. The organization noted that the high death toll was “driven primarily” by fires at large operations that housed several thousand to over 1 million farm animals.

The majority of deaths in these incidents during that period, over 98%, were farmed birds, such as chickens and turkeys, according to the Animal Welfare Institute. But in 2023, a massive fire at a west Texas dairy farm became the single deadliest event involving livestock in the state’s history and the deadliest cattle fire in America in at least a decade.

18,000 head of cattle perished in the fire at the South Fork Dairy farm near Dimmitt, Texas. At the time, Roger Malone, who is the former mayor of Dimmitt, called the incident “mind-boggling.”

“I don’t think it’s ever happened before around here. It’s a real tragedy,” Malone said.

Contributing: Rick Jervis, USA TODAY; Shahid Meighan, Columbus Dispatch

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Ohio

Ohio’s LaRose pushes back on voter fraud critics, Democrats

Published

1 day ago

February 26, 2026

Press Room

Ohio’s LaRose pushes back on voter fraud critics, Democrats

Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose discussed voter fraud and Ohio’s efforts to prevent it during a recent radio appearance.

LaRose appeared on “The Bill Cunningham” radio show, where he defended the state’s efforts to minimize voter fraud. A clip posted on X shows audio of LaRose arguing that policies aimed at preventing voter fraud are necessary even though cases are rare.

Here’s what to know.

Secretary of State Frank LaRose says voter fraud in Ohio is rare, compares prevention efforts to TSA security

In the clip, LaRose says that Democrats claim voter fraud is rare, and should be ignored.

“The left claims that voter fraud is rare, so we should just ignore it,” he said. “Well, airplane hijackings are also rare — we don’t abolish the TSA. The reason why we keep voter fraud rare in states like Ohio because we do these very things that they’re trying to take away from me.”

LaRose announced the inaugural meeting of the new Ohio Election Integrity Commission, which replaces what he called the flawed Ohio Elections Commission, in January 2026. The new committee, he says, will be used in “enforcing Ohio’s election laws, reviewing alleged violations, and ensuring accountability in matters relating to voting.”

In October 2025, LaRose said that he forwarded more than 1,000 cases of voter fraud to the U.S. Department of Justice. The cases involved 1,084 noncitizen individuals who appear to have registered to vote unlawfully in Ohio, and 167 noncitizens who appear to have also cast a ballot in a federal election since 2018.

In February 2026, President Donald Trump said Republicans should “nationalize” elections. He also accused Democrats of bringing migrants into the United States to illegally vote, a claim that is not backed by evidence, USA TODAY reports.

Voter fraud in the U.S. is considered rare nationwide, according to NPR, but there are still debates from both political sides on how frequently it occurs.

What is voter fraud?

Electoral fraud is defined as illegally interfering with the process of an election, according to Ballotpedia. This includes in-person voter fraud, absentee or mail ballots and illegal voter suppression.

Criminal penalties can include fines or imprisonment for up to five years, according to U.S. code. In Ohio, election interference can carry a felony of the fourth degree, according to Ohio Code.

Voter fraud is often a topic of debate among Democrats and Republicans, where organizations such as the conservative Heritage Foundation maintains a database claiming to show nearly 1,500 cases of election fraud since the year 2000.

Meanwhile, research by law professor Justin Leavitt published in 2014 found 31 cases of in-person voter fraud among billions of ballots cast from 2000–2014, according to Ballotpedia.

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