Page 8 - BusinessWest August 18, 2021
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 her booth, A Shopper’s Dream — which features animal-themed merchandise (mugs, ornaments, floormats, metal signs, etc.) — for 30 years now. She said the Big E is by far the biggest show on her annual slate, and one she and others sorely missed last year.
“It was a major loss, a huge disappointment last year,” she said. “We’ve been coming back for so many years, and we have a lot of regulars who come back year after year looking to see if we have anything new. I’m looking forward to being back.”
“It’s something we’ve looked forward to every year for as long
as I can remember. So we’re super happy to have it back this year, and we all have our fingers crossed right now.”
But the anxiety comes naturally as well. Indeed, the tents, ticket booths, and other facili- ties are going up — more slowly, in some cases, because of a lack of workers — as COVID-19 cases are spiking and as states and individual commu- nities are pondering mask mandates, vaccination passports, and other steps.
While there are dozens, if not hundreds, of other area events and gatherings that might be impacted in some way by the changing tide of the pandemic, from weddings to the Basketball
Hall of Fame enshrine- ment ceremonies early next month, none will be watched more closely than the Big E.
Cassidy told Busi- nessWest he watches and reads the news every day. He’s concerned by the trends regarding the virus, but buoyed by the fact that fairs of this type have been going off, mostly without hitches, across the country. And the turnouts have certainly verified a high level of pent-up demand for such events.
Overall, the sentiment within the region, and the business commu- nity, concerning the Big E and the fate of this year’s fair was perhaps best summed up Stacey Gra- vanis, general manager of the Sheraton Springfield.
It’s been a very long 18 months for the vendors who work the Big E, and they are among the many people happy to have the 17-day fair back on the slate.
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“It’s huge ... and it’s not
just the business side, it’s the emotional side as well,” she said of the Big E and losing it for 2020, “because it’s been around for so many years. It’s something we’ve looked forward to every year for as long as I can remember. So we’re super happy to have it back this year, and we all have our fin- gers crossed right now.”
And their toes as well. That’s how impor-
tant the Big E is to the region and its business community.
The Ride Stuff
As he talked with BusinessWest about the upcoming fair and ongoing planning for it, Cas- sidy joked about how much he and his staff had to tap their memory banks after their forced and
 Photo courtesy of The Big E
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