Page 17 - BusinessWest August 18, 2021

The Big E
Continued from page 10
out every weekend of the year with a combination of vendors and attendees; right now, there are very few rooms left.”
Berthiaume certainly has her fingers crossed. She told BusinessWest that the return of fairs, and especially the Big E, could not have come soon enough for vendors like her. She said the Charles- ton (R.I.) Seafood Festival, staged earlier this month, was the first event she’d worked in roughly 18 months, and it has been a long, rough ride since gatherings started getting canceled in March 2020.
“It was crazy last year because you couldn’t plan — life was in limbo,” she said, adding that events were post- poned early in the year and there was general uncertainty about when or if they would be held. This year, there was less uncertainty, but also nothing in the calendar, for most, until very recently.
She said a good number of vendors have been forced to pack it in or take their businesses online. “I know a lot of people who have gone out of busi- ness because of this. Many had been in business, like us, for 30 years or more, and they figured, ‘what the heck, I’m not going to do this anymore — it’s too hard.’”
Like Cassidy, she senses a strong urge on the part of many people to get
back to doing the things they’ve missed for the past year and half, and she cited the seafood festival as solid evidence.
“They had people waiting for two hours to get off the highway to get in — the traffic was so backed up,” Berthi- aume recalled. “We hadn’t seen people like that in maybe five years.
“Everyone is ready to get out there,” she went on, with some enthusiasm in her voice. “People are just so happy to be out in public. So the Big E, based on what I’ve seen with their tickets for the concerts ... everyone is ready to roll; everyone is waiting for the Big E.”
Fair Weathered Friends
Getting back to the weather ... yes, Cassidy is still concerned about it on some levels. And why not? There has been record rainfall this summer and extreme conditions in other parts of the country and across the globe.
He’s hoping all that is in the past tense, with the same going for the very worst that this pandemic can dish out.
The weather can never be an after- thought at the Big E, but this year it
is well down the big list of things that keep organizers up at night.
Indeed, this is a time of anticipation and anxiety — and for keeping those fingers crossed. u
George O’Brien can be reached at [email protected]
Epstein
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my own comedy team to help me write these ideas that I had,” Epstein recalled, adding that, in exchange for being named producer of the show, Koenig said he would find the comedi- ans — which he did.
“I flew out to La Jolla, California, and holed up for two days in a condo he [Koenig] has overlooking the Pacif- ic,” Epstein went on. “I was there with three comedians, and I basically acted out all the ideas I had in my head. And with those three comedians, we crafted the outline of the one-man show. Then I went home and wrote 168 pages from October to Thanksgiving, then went back out to California in January for another two days of going over things. Then COVID hit, and we spent the next three or four months on Zoom, editing, writing, and acting things out.”
Subsequently, he has hired a direc- tor, a stage manager, a lighting design- er, animators, and more to bring the show to life. He also traveled across the country for the filming of a documen- tary on the making of the show, created by Emmy Award winner Nick Nanton. There were location shoots in a variety of settings, including a mountaintop
in California, New England, and the actual ‘field of dreams’ in Iowa, the
one made famous in the movie star- ring Kevin Costner, a visit that Epstein said was inspirational on a number of
levels.
“It’s like a shrine — it was fantastic
being there,” he said, noting that he rented out for the field for two days so he and his crew could film at dusk. “I finally got to do what I always wanted to do, like James Earl Jones — walk into that cornfield like a ghost.”
Epstein, who is now spending sev- eral hours a day rehearsing, will per- form Yield of Dreams: A Financially Entertaining Experience twice at the Northampton Arts Center, on Aug. 26and27at7p.m.Thereisnocost
to attend those shows; seats can be reserved, and that aforementioned documentary can be viewed, by down- loading the app at yieldof dreams.live.
After those shows ... the plan is to take the show on the road, as they say.
“The goal is to go city to city, tour the country, and teach people that they, too, can achieve their dreams,” he said, adding that the timing for such
a show is ideal because many people have been cooped up during COVID, thinking about the present — and the future.
“They’re thinking, ‘I’m working in
a job I can’t stand for a paycheck, and I’m miserable. Why don’t I just go for my dream?” Epstein said. “That’s what this show is. It’s me living my passion and trying to be an inspiration to other people.” u
—George O’Brien
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