Raleigh Beer Garden to give away 500 pairs of eclipse glasses at viewing party

At the Raleigh Beer Garden, preparations were underway Sunday for a solar eclipse viewing party scheduled for Monday afternoon.

The Hibernian Hospitality Group is expecting a big crowd for Mondays eclipse at all of its venues.

“We’ve got seven different events going on between our patios and rooftops all over Raleigh,” Director of Marketing Frank Bloom. “Obviously, we’re staffing up.”

Bloom said some of the smaller venues were already at capacity or close to it Sunday, so the Beer Garden would be the best bet for people who waited until the last minute.

“This is the one where we’ve got the most opportunity for people to come out and enjoy the eclipse,” Bloom said.

The first 500 guests who come into the Beer Garden will get eclipse glasses. With the quality of glasses coming into question as the eclipse approaches, Bloom said he made sure their glasses were legitimate.

“We did some research and actually went to the NASA website and made sure the vendor we were using was an approved vendor,” he said. “We definitely were concerned about that and concerned about the safety of our guests so we really did our homework.”

Many have been anticipating the solar eclipse for weeks, months or even years. Now that it’s almost here, Bloom urges everyone who will be out to be prepared, patient and safe.

“Hopefully we’re going to have a really good show and good weather tomorrow,” he said.