Visitors and residents were scattered across Niagara-on-the-Lake Monday afternoon in hopes of catching a glimpse of the full solar eclipse. 

In the hours leading up to it, spirits were low with most of NOTL covered by clouds.

William Brunton, Kati Brunton, Kathy Latour and Carol Hajas sat outside on Simcoe Street to watch it all happen but declare the experience a bit lacklustre. 

“It’s like watching paint dry,” William Brunton joked. 

• Check back for updates and see The Lake Report on Thursday for full coverage, commentary, photos and video of Monday’s total eclipse.

At Queen’s Royal Park, Helen and Sean Kaeeley were joined by Dan Pyke and Eileen Forestell, who trekked from Toronto and Fergus to watch the eclipse.

Despite the cloudy conditions, the group was excited to take in the rare astronomical event. 

“It’s gonna get dark, so even if we can’t see much we will experience what happens,” Sean Kaeeley said.

Pyke added that he was intrigued to see if the rumoured “effects” of the eclipse would happen.

“I’m waiting to see what the primal effects are on people. To see if there’s dancing or people down on one knee, proposing,” he said.

After the moon made its way over the sun, crowds in the Gardens at the Pillar & Post seemed to think all the staring up at the clouds and waiting was well worth it. 

Melinda Brooks and Trish Tervit made the trek from Toronto.

For Tervit, even after seeing a partial eclipse in 2017, Monday’s experience was unlike anything else. 

“It happened so fast. We were overwhelmed. I started tearing up. I don’t know why, maybe it’s because we were so depressed from the clouds,” she said with a laugh. 

They weren’t expecting much and were speechless when full totality hit.

“We were always going to stick it out no matter what, but it exceeded our expectations considering the clouds for sure,” she said. 

More to come …