THE BALLOON MAN

Big E launches 17-day annual fair with an alphabet-list of food, rides, entertainment, shopping

The Republican | Michael S. Gordon
Michael Bradshaw changes the light bulbs and color covers on the Mini Jets ride at the Big E, which opens Friday in West Springfield.
By Mike Plaisance, The Republican
from:  malive.com
September 14, 2012
Think of it as 17 days of doing and eating stuff your parents and doctors would rather you didn’t, and with a Ferris wheel in the background.

The annual fair of the Eastern States Exposition — the Big E — begins today and runs through Sept. 30 at the fairgrounds on Memorial Avenue in West Springfield.

Midway rides let you play around with gravity and the Big E Cream Puff is a small planet of depravity.

Big E officials said 1,201,428 people attended last year’s fair.

“It’s a place where you can find anything, whether it’s a commercial product or a food product. The shopping is unending. There’s so much here, there’s something that appeals to everyone,” said Eugene J. Cassidy, Big E president and chief executive officer.

Cassidy marks his first Big E as CEO but he has been a Big E employee since 1993, when he became director of finance. He took over in June from G. Wayne McCary, who retired after having led the Big E since 1991.
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