It’s starting to feel like 2017 all over again.

Oregon is preparing for another solar eclipse, the annular “ring of fire” eclipse on Oct. 14, with lodging booking up, festivals preparing to host thousands of people, and local officials fretting about worst-case scenarios.

Unlike the total solar eclipse in 2017, when visitors were expected across Oregon, tourism officials are expecting crowds this year to be concentrated in one part of the state: Klamath County.

That’s due not only to the path of the eclipse, which will be visible for all Oregonians but at its best in a 90-mile-wide band across the southwest corner of the state, but also because of the probability for good weather. Jim Todd, space science director for the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry, said that although that band includes the south-central Oregon coast and the Willamette Valley, the Klamath Basin is expected to have the best chances of clear skies when the eclipse begins, just after 8 a.m. Oct. 14.

Depending on who you ask, crowd estimates in Klamath County range from 15,000 to 70,000 people, with most going to Crater Lake National Park, the city of Klamath Falls and Eclipse Fest, a multi-day festival just outside town. That could be a big deal for the rural county, which has an estimated population of 70,212 people, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

It’s left officials, emergency personnel and residents wondering not just how many people will arrive, but how to manage them all.

“This has the potential to be a really significant, once-in-a-lifetime event in our county,” Klamath County Commissioner Kelley Minty said. “At the end of the day, we don’t totally know what to expect.”

Local tourism agencies have been trying to figure that out, tracking where crowds might go to witness the astronomical event. At the top of the list is Crater Lake National Park, which will be directly in the path of the eclipse. In June, Outside Magazine named the park one of the best places in the country to see the event.

Crater Lake Superintendent Craig Ackerman said he’s been feeling more trepidatious than excited for the eclipse, as the park tries to prepare for a surge of visitors at what is normally the end of its busy season.

“The park is available, it’s a public place and certainly the public is entitled to use it — that’s what it’s there for,” he said. “The real issue is that since it’s in October, many of our available personnel resources will be gone for the season.”

Park campgrounds will already be closed for the season, as will many other amenities. Crater Lake Lodge, which will stay open through Oct. 15, has long been booked up. One visitor center should be open, Ackerman said, and the park hopes to keep the sole gas pump open as well.

Just outside the park, on a 175-acre parcel of private land, organizers are working to set up Eclipse Fest, a multi-day event with camping, food, vendors and a concert by ‘90s pop-rock band Smash Mouth. The event is run by Impressions Design & Marketing, a Klamath Falls company that has previously put on multi-day Ninja Warrior events. Sara Irvine, owner of Impressions, said Eclipse Fest is on track to host an estimated 5,000 people.

Eclipse Fest is not the only big event taking place in Klamath County. Another, Eclipse Into Nature, will be hosted at Running Y Resort in Klamath Falls, where organizers expect between 1,200 and 2,500 people for an eclipse watch party, and up to 120 people for a ticketed event the night before.

Jason Murray, general manager of Running Y Resort, said Eclipse Into Nature will be focused on education, with a NASA livestream and representatives on hand from the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry as well as the Oregon Institute of Technology. With live music, food vendors and games, it also promises to be a lively, family-friendly affair.

Many of those preparing in Klamath County have said they’ve looked to 2017 as a road map for 2023, but that’s led to a large discrepancy in crowd estimates.

Local tourism agency Discover Klamath said it expects 15,000 to 20,000 people for the eclipse, less than a third of what the county estimates. But even that would be a lot. Virtually all local lodging is expected to be booked up by the start of October, the agency said in an email, leaving any spillover crowds to either camp at Eclipse Fest or find someplace nearby.

Bob Hackett, executive director of Travel Southern Oregon, said a lot hinges on making sure people have good places to watch the eclipse and stay the night. The fear is that people might trespass on private land, clog up rural areas or get in trouble exploring some of the more rustic environments.