Page 10 - BusinessWest August 18, 2021

some — how many, he just doesn’t know — who will not want to be part of large crowds of people this year. He’d like to see 1.4 million, and notes that he needs 1.2 million to pay for the fair.
“My goal is simply to provide a great, healthy, family experience for the fairgoing public,” he said, adding that several factors will determine overall turnout. “Our demographic is a little bit older than in other parts of the country, and I think some people are going to be hesitant about large crowds, and I think that will have an impact on us. At the same time, if you look at some of
“We open on Sept. 17, and the unemploy- ment bonus checks will cease in the first week of September,” he said. “So, hopefully, people will be wanting to get back to work.”
Impact Statement
While there is antici- pation and some anxiety within the confines of the Big E, there’s plenty of both outside the gates as well.
As was noted earlier and in countless stories on these pages over the years, the Big E impacts the local economy, and many individual busi- nesses, in a profound way. Gravanis tried to quantify and qualify it.
“People are ready to get back to normal.”
the other events, their popularity has been very high. So I sup- pose it can go either way, but I think we will see some scaling back of attendance, and that’s OK.”
While crowd con- trol is an issue, there are other concerns as well, as Cassidy, especially workforce, which will be more of a challenge for vendors than for the Big E itself, which has seen
most of the regular workforce it hires come back again this year.
Indeed, he noted that work on several of the larger tents that dot the fairgrounds started ear- lier this year because vendors had fewer people to handle that work. This trend, coupled with cancellation of the Ferris wheel, which demands large operating crews, obviously leaves reason for concern.
However, Cassidy believes the clock, or the cal- endar, to be more precise, may be working in the favor of employees.
The Avenue of States will be open for business at the Big E, which is seeing record numbers of advance ticket sales for the 2021 fair.
“It’s thousands of dol-
lars in room and bever-
age revenue,” she said. “It’s keeping our people employed on a full-time basis. It’s seeing these people, these vendors, that we’ve worked with over the past 20 to 30 years — we missed them last year. It has both financial and impact for our staff and our local businesses.”
Elaborating, she said the hotel, like all others, suffered a seemingly endless string of hits last year as events were canceled, tourism came to a screeching halt, and airlines (who book crews into
the hotel on a nightly basis) all but shut down. But the Big E, because of its duration and scope, was perhaps the biggest single hit of all.
Which is why having it back is so important, and also why those fingers are crossed.
“We get hundreds, if not thousands, of room nights, as well as the incremental spending in our restaurants —
it’s extensive,” said
Gravanis. “We sell
The Big E
Continued on page 17
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10 AUGUST 18, 2021
FEATURE
Photo courtesy of The Big E
BusinessWest