Page 10 - BusinessWest March 17, 2021

And West Side, as it’s called, has many of them, said Mayor Will Reichelt, who counted 20 hotels and motels and a number of restaurants in his community.
But the biggest business in that sector, obvi- ously, is the Big E, which is responsible for fill- ing many those hotels, motels, and restaurants, not just during the 17 days of the annual fair, but almost year-round, as that venue hosts a number of shows centered on everything from horses to toy railroads; dogs to guns and knives.
The Big E has been mostly empty and silent
“It’s going to be a tough year, but there are reasons for optimism — we see things opening back up.”
since the pandemic arrived a year ago, and while the outlook for 2021 is more promising, there remains a huge number of unknows, especially with regard to the fair, a situation that Big E Presi- dent and CEO Gene Cassidy summed up this way:
“It’s like you’re navigating your way down a dark alleyway; you don’t know what’s in front of you — if there’s suddenly going to be a crack in the pavement or if you’re going to walk into a dumpster,” he said, using that phrase to indicate how difficult it is to plan when the rules keep changing, often without much, if any, notice. “Our goal, simply, is to plan to produce a product that people are going to enjoy.”
Cassidy is quite confident there will be a Big E this September — he just doesn’t how many people will be allowed to attend. He doesn’t
think it will be full capac- ity, as in 100,000 people on a weekend day, as in fairs past. Instead, he’s expect- ing some percentage of that number, which won’t be ideal, but certainly better than last year.
And while most of his energy and attention is
still focused on this year’s fair, he said he’s spending a good amount of time lob- bying officials to under- stand the importance of fairs and live events in gen- eral, and to help ensure the long-term survival of such institutions, something he believes is now imperiled.
Overall, though, he’s optimistic about the rest of 2021.
“It’s going to be a tough
year, but there are reasons
for optimism — we see
things opening back up,” he said, noting that vari- ous expert projections of herd immunity by fall or even sooner are encouraging, even as innumer- able challenges and question marks loom.
For this, the latest installment in its Communi- ty Spotlight series, BusinessWest takes a hard look at West Side and its efforts to become even more of a destination, even as its business community continues to battle COVID-19 and all the chal- lenges it has brought.
Tyler
Saremi sees potential
in West Springfield’s downtown, and is taking
steps to inject some economic vibrancy.
Road to Progress
Reichelt, now wrapping up his second term in office, with plans to seek a third, said he can’t find too many silver linings from the pandemic and all the havoc it caused in 2020.
But he can find at least one — acceleration
of the process to replace the Morgan-Sullivan Bridge, which connects his city with Agawam. The bridge project, which commenced two years ago, has to pause during the 17-day run of the Big E, he explained, adding that work actually comes to a halt for three weeks or more because of logisti-
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10 MARCH 17, 2021
COMMUNITY SPOTLIGHT
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