The Escambia Amateur Astronomers Association (EAAA) is an amateur astronomy club in Northwest Florida. History It was originally started in June 1959 by two elementary school students and one about to start junior high school. Originally known as the Warrington Amateur Astronomers Association, the first few years it operated informally as a backyard telescope group. As the membership gained in age, the club was renamed the Escambia Amateur Astronomers Association (EAAA) when the club went county-wide. Activities included star parties, meetings at the public library, and field trips, to the Pensacola Naval Air Station planetarium and centrifuge, to Spring Hill College observatory, to a high school astronomy club east-in DeFuniak Springs, Florida, The Walton County Astronomy Club. Both were Junior Member Clubs in the Astronomical League. In the 1960s many of the most active members left for college and a new generation of members replaced them. Soon, the club was printing a club newsletter—the "METEOR"—which is still in print. Sponsor Dr. Wayne Wooten edited it for 40 years, and former student Nicole Gunter has taken it over as part of her journalism work at the University of Florida. The club became inactive in the 1970s. Activity resumed a few years later when the club founder Robert Blake returned to the area as a temporary replacement for the Pensacola Junior College astronomy instructor. He got together such of the old membership as were still in the area in late 1977 and planned a reactivation of the club with the facilities of the community college—such as their Owens Planetarium. With this backing, the club became more and more active. When the astronomy instructor returned, he donated the first large portable telescope to the club—permitting public viewing. Since the 1980s the club hosted a summer viewing program for the National Park Service at the Fort Pickens campground—taken over from a Pensacola Junior College professor Dr. Frank Palma who had previously given the programs. When an annular eclipse took place nearby in May 1984, the club raised the money for safe Mylar solar filter material and then gave programs to schools on how to safely watch the event—with filters handed out at no cost to the students. In 1982, Merry Edenton-Wooten became club president, and her astronomy-related business Draco Productions became the club's sponsor in 1992. She obtained permission from Thomas Baader to purchase and use the new solar filter material, and sell it