Dr. Know Journeys to Salem for the Solar Eclipse, Finds Tot-ality in the Taproot Lounge

Forecast traffic problems fail to materialize—until people head back to Portland.

Clare Chedester of Salem's Taproot Lounge shows off Sunday's special, the "Path of Tot-tality"
By Marty Smith

Salem is not usually counted among the west coast's leading tourist destinations.

Sure, schoolchildren are occasionally bused in to tour the state Capitol, just as old people are sometimes bused into Wilmington, N.C .to see the places where they filmed Matlock. But for most of us, Salem is usually just the first milestone on a longer road trip, a stopping place only for those with the tiniest of bladders.

Maybe this is why, when we learned that the Aug. 21 eclipse's path of totality would be skipping Portland in favor of Salem and other smaller towns to the south, we assumed they wouldn't be able to handle it.

Seizing upon authorities' worst-case scenarios, many big-city pundits warned that central Oregon would disappear under an onslaught of three-day traffic jams, as an estimated 1,000,000 hippies from Portland and Seattle migrated south to witness the celestial event.

There were certainly some hiccups. Madras, site of an eclipse celebration called Solarfest, enjoyed some Moscow-in-a-snowstorm-level traffic jams—though that's to be expected when you try to throw a party for 100,000 people in a town of 7,000 that has basically one road. Prineville, another small town burdened with a massive festival, experienced similar woes.

But these were relatively isolated incidents—by Sunday night in Salem, it was clear that the direst predictions of statewide traff-o-pocalypse weren't going to be coming true.

Traffic was still flowing easily, and while some downtown businesses reported their busiest day ever ("Our previous record day was St. Patrick's, but this one has totally eclipsed it," noted Alex, a bartender at the Taproot Lounge who wisely declined to give his last name), civil society did not break down. Fittingly,  Taproot elevated the humble tater tot for the occasion (see accompanying photo).

Less certain at present is the outlook for northern visitors hoping to head home directly after the eclipse. Just an hour and 20 minutes after showtime, ODOT was reporting that the drive time from Salem to Portland—usually around 50 minutes—was at 2 and a half hours and still rising.

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