WEST SPRINGFIELD, Mass. — Highlighting a collaboration between all six New England States, the Big E is open this year until Sept. 28, featuring games, food, rides, vendors and more.
“The Big E is the largest event on the East Coast and the fourth largest fair in North America,” according to the fair’s website. “Attendees can enjoy hours of free entertainment and attractions, terrific food, plus the best that New England — and beyond — has to offer.”
Tickets for the Big E are priced at $20 when purchased at the gate, but attendees also have the option of purchasing tickets online for $21.50. Those arriving late can spend $11 if they visit after 5 p.m. on any day from Sunday to Thursday, for the fair’s evening rate.
Visitors hoping to save money at the Big E should note that the lines to buy tickets at the gate move fast, so buying at the door can be viable as opposed to online.
Attendees of The Big E should also plan for parking. Various businesses and parking lots around the fair offer paid parking spots, although free public parking is also available at Gate 9.
Once inside the fair, attendees can enjoy everything the fair has to offer. While there are some additional charges for enjoying the fair — food, games, rides and vendors — much of the fair can still be enjoyed without spending extra. This includes exploring the statehouses and the petting zoo, and for those who visited on Sept. 21, it also included a parade.
“The parade, it was fun,” UConn student Benjamin Burnham said. “We had no idea we would be the only band, so once we figured that out we knew we had to … We had a lot of expectations, I guess. To be the only music in the parade with a bunch of floats.”
Burnham, a fifth-semester student studying music performance with a focus on the bass trombone, is one of seventeen members of East Rock Brass Band. The New Haven-based band plays New Orleans-style brass music, with instrumentation including the drums, tuba, trombone and trumpet.
“It’s made up from mostly UConn alum,” Burnham said. “Or current UConn students, in my case. So that’s how I kind of knew about the band and got into the band. We don’t tour, but we do a lot of gigs around the Connecticut area, the greater Connecticut area.”
While boasting seventeen members, East Rock Brass Band rotates the number of musicians attending each performance. Nine members were present at the Big E on Sunday, including Burnham and his tenor trombone.
“I had never been [to the Big E] before,” Burnham said. “Along with some of my bandmates, who had also never been before. So, it was a nice experience, to not only play there and entertain all these lovely people, but also just to explore and see what it’s about. And get a feel for what the Big E offers, which is a lot.”
The Big E offered free admission to the members of East Rock Brass Band, giving Burnham and his bandmates the opportunity to see more of the fair after their performance finished. Out of everything he saw, Burnham said his favorite aspect of the fair was the pig racing.
“We just kind of stumbled upon them, me and a couple of guys from the band,” Burnham said. “And we were looking for cows originally, but then we heard ‘pig race’ and we knew we had to see that. So that was definitely a highlight.”
Outside of the typical food, rides and games seen at most fairs, the Big E also offers the statehouses: a collection of buildings themed around products and experiences from the six New England states. The Connecticut building included a mannequin wearing a UConn basketball in a glass display case — situated next to a Final Four trophy.
Each statehouse also offered food from the individual states. The Maine building offered baked potatoes while the New Hampshire building showed off chocolate-covered fruits and apple cider.
In addition to the statehouses, the Big E hosts a variety of vendors in multiple halls. Items for sale included hats made from real alpaca fur, Yamaha pianos, hot tubs, DVDs and much, much more.
The Big E also offers plenty of live music for any potential visitors. A full list of the Big E’s entertainment offerings can be found on the organization’s website, but some upcoming acts this week include The Band Perry, The Kid LAROI, Train, MKTO and ZZ Top.
The fair is open from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. from Sunday to Thursday and stays open until 11 p.m. on Friday and Saturday nights. The last day of the fair is Sunday, Sept. 28.