Do You Remember The Sunday Night Dance Party At The Eclipse In Binghamton?

When I think back on the years I've been with 99.1 The Whale, there are a lot of great memories that come flooding back. And I've had the privilege of working with some awesome people.

And one of those good memories came back to me when I saw the article one of my co-workers - WNBF's Bob Joseph wrote and published about a former nightclub scheduled to be demolished.

That nightclub was located in the back of the former Ramada Inn at 65 Front Street, Binghamton. It went by a few names, but during the times we spent there and had Whale Nights, it was called 'Esprit' and then 'Eclipse.' The bulk of the time we had the most fun was when it was the 'Eclipse.'

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If you loved to go dancing and, well, do the things you do in a dance club and were a Whale listener back in the back end of the 1980s and early 1990s, you were well aware of this nightclub. It was the place to be. It was a two-story nightclub with a huge bar area in the center, a sunken dancefloor, and a kicking sound system.

We used to host many events there, including the ever-famous Sunday Night Dance Party. I was amazed at how many people would come out to a nightclub on a Sunday evening, but it was packed week after week.

We hosted and sometimes were the club DJs for various events. You may remember former Whale personalities like  Oz, Doc Wells, The Captain, Rick Kelly, Thunder Reynolds among others who were a part of the fun.

I remember one event we held outside in the parking lot - Bovine Bingo. The parking lot was fenced off, marked off in squares, and a local farmer brought in one of his bovines to roam around, dropping brown packages of you-know-what. Contestants each had a square, and if their square was decorated by the cow, they won a prize.

A few years ago, one of my co-workers and I were a part of a New Year's Eve party at the nightclub, which has been remodeled. The bar in the middle was done, as was the sunken dance floor and pretty much all of the sound system. It felt weird being back after 20 years or so.

I miss those fun times at the 'Eclipse.' The nightclub staff, Whale personalities, and our listeners were all part of nightclub history. Memories I'll never forget.