With the cost of safety glasses for viewing a rare solar eclipse soaring sky high, what seemed like half the summer population of Rye began lining up around the Village Green by 10 a.m. August 21. Stargazers from 8 to 80 waited in hope of obtaining one of the 250 pair of glasses offered by Rye Free Reading Room and its generous donors. By zero-hour, 2:44 p.m., nobody seemed disappointed by being surrounded by a dusk-like, smoky shade of light.
–Tom McDermott
