What’s so special about the upcoming eclipse Aug. 21 that it became known as the Great American Eclipse?For starters, it’s the first total eclipse to be able to be seen in the United States since 1979 and it has suppliers of eclipse viewing sunglasses scrambling to fill orders before zero hour. It has spawned the creation of postage stamps and a plethora of eclipse-related websites from government sites to news and educational forums.Local residents have even more reason to get excited, as we’re not only in an area that will experience totality – when the moon totally blocks the sun – DeKalb County is within a short drive to where HWY 111 and Black Oak Road meet which is on the eclipse’s center line and has the closest longest totality duration at approximately 2 minutes and 39 seconds.For those who might not want to fight the surging hordes of folks, there’s another option. The Justin Potter Library in conjunction with the Smithville-DeKalb Chamber of Commerce, Saint Thomas DeKalb Hospital, DeKalb County government and the City of Smithville is sponsoring a block party across from the library.