The Big E, a two-week-long affair devoted to food, music and agriculture, is once again bringing thousands to western Massachusetts. That included the state's governor on Thursday.
It’s a fair with all of the fixings in West Springfield at the Eastern States Exposition's fairgrounds.
For over a century, the Big E’s turned a section of West Side into its own city as summer officially turns into fall. By noon on Thursday, Sept. 18, a sizable crowd was already filling up the streets loaded with food stands, vendors and live music.
There’s also live animals, from sheep pens to stables filled with equines, including those raised by 4H members across the Northeast.
“There's a ton of horses here - Thoroughbreds, Standardbreds…” Brady Rose of Dighton tells WAMC in one of the fairground’s stables. “A lot of Quarter horses, there's some Paints, Morgans, a little bit of everything - in 4H, we have a pretty big variety of horses.”
Working as a team leader for the 4H Massachusetts delegation, Rose says the fair’s a chance for 4H kids and families to gather and celebrate all things farming and animal-rearing.
“I think that’s one of my favorite parts - just having a really good community: a really good, close-knit community, regardless of where you’re from,” she says, pointing out how members from Maine, Vermont and Rhode Island are among those gathered. “It's so cool be able to see people from all over New England, all over the country … having a community that big.”
Just outside, chainsaws are revving as artists “chisel” wooden bears and other statues out of logs. A small line forms, though nowhere near as long as the line for a much-coveted fairground food – a baked potato prepared at the Maine state building, one of several structures devoted to the states of New England.
In line is Dylan Prouty, of Thompson, Conn., who has his eyes on a potato with everything on it.
“It's one of my go-to’s every year - even on a weekday like this, the line is out the building,” he remarks. “That proves that the baked potato from Maine is one of the best.”
It’s a line that’s long enough to make a radio reporter give up on waiting, only to run into the Lennon’s Lemonade stand nearby, run in-part by Dylan Deconzo.
“We're making hand-squeezed, hand-pressed lemonade, fresh from the press,” he says, standing next to rows of small plastic buckets ready to be filled. “Strawberry, raspberry - we got blueberry, we can mix-and-match. We also have a special maple that a lot of people like with strawberries.”
Making the trip from Auburn, Maine with one of his colleagues, he says this year is his first working the Big E – a fair that draws folks from all over.
On Thursday, Massachusetts Day, that included Governor Maura Healey and Lieutenant Governor Kim Driscoll, making their annual pilgrimage to what’s often been rated the 4th- or 5th-largest fair in the country.
As Healey tells WAMC, Massachusetts Day or not, the fair that brought 1.6 million people to West Springfield last year alone is a boon for the local economy.
“You've got vendors coming in from all over, and they have an opportunity to show off and market and sell their goods, and I also think [the fair’s] really important because it's a reminder of who we are, our heritage,” she told reporters. “In fact, the Big E is home to the oldest horse shows in North America … [and] we've got this history of farming and of agriculture and of industry…”
Both Healey and Driscoll got to swing by some of that industry while in the Massachusetts state house, including a literal swing with baseball bats, crafted in nearby Holyoke by Rutto Bats.
Founder KipNgetich Rutto says he was more than happy to hand the governor a torpedo bat and be at a fair that celebrates local creators.
“To get this kind of exposure at the Big E is a big deal,” says Rutto, who’s own journey has taken him from Kenya to the Paper City, running a company that crafts wooden bats sourced from local, working forests. “A lot of people living down the street from us, they know that we exist, but being here at the Big E, they are able to actually see us and notice that we have a brand growing, for baseball, here in Massachusetts.”
One of the most popular bats at the fair, he says: their crayon bats, painted and wrapped like classic coloring crayons.
Outside, another Holyoke operation had the state leadership’s attention – the Grain Train, serving up massive cookies plastered in fruit, frosting and peanut butter.
It’s a product made possible by Ground Up Grain – an operation devoted to working with local farms to create a market for grain growers, even if it’s just a cover crop, says co-founder Andrea Stanley.
“We actually are millers - we have a flour mill in Holyoke, we've been milling flour for local bakeries for the last six years, and we started a bakery ourselves in 2025,” she tells WAMC. “We were lucky enough to be given a spot here at the Big E to be able to sell giant pretzels and crumble-style cookies, and they’re all made with our stone-milled flour that comes from local farms.”
Stanley and company also run the Valley Malt Beer Garden right next to the shop, which is entering its sixth year at the fair.
As for the most popular cookies -
“The pumpkin ginger molasses cookie is such a classic cookie - it's amazing to me how many people love that style, and it is one of my favorites too,” Stanley adds.
The Big E ends Sunday, Sept. 28.
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This piece originally aired on Friday, Sept. 19, 2025.
