One of the main highlights of September in New England is the Big E. People come from all across New England to visit the Eastern States Exposition for this exciting event, which has been held for over 100 years. Whether it be for the food, shows, vendors, Ferris wheel, or the “Big Yellow Slide”, people come from far and wide to kick off the beginning of the fall season with this fun event. A couple of our Herald staff members went this past week and are here to report on their day and the exciting New England tradition!

The first thing we did was watch the parade. It was Connecticut day at the Big E so many bands and ROTC groups were represented from schools in Connecticut. There was also an animal shelter represented, which had its own float full of puppies!

After watching the parade for awhile, we headed over to the Farm-a-Rama to see all the animals. There were baby goats, chicks, and giant Clydesdale horses. We also saw some bees and were reminded to #savethebees.  

After seeing all the animals, we headed over to the Colosseum where we watched the Horse Show!

Following the horse show, we began to get hungry so we headed over to the State Buildings where we were sure that we could find something good to eat. We started off with getting the Vermont mac and cheese and then went to Rhode Island where we found some cool pumpkin art and got our Del’s Lemonade.

After finishing their mac and cheese, Helena and Dante decided they wanted to try more fun foods so Dante got a giant turkey leg and Helena got a Maine Baked potato. 

After finishing our food, we wandered around the fair for awhile and visited the many vendors and shops. After looking at some cool vendor items, we headed over to Midway to go on some rides.  The first thing we decided to ride was the famous midway Ferris wheel. It was $5 per person but totally worth it, as the view from the top was amazing and we could see the whole fairgrounds.

After that, we decided to call it a night but knew we couldn’t leave without going on the McDonald’s big yellow slide. We tried to have a boys versus girls race but Meagan and Helena had a hard time getting started and ended up losing. The best part was that after we finished we got a coupon for a free medium fry from McDonald’s. After our slide race, we headed out and were wished good-bye through a beautiful BigE sunset. Overall, we had a great day and enjoyed the foods, animals, rides, vendors, and parades! We can’t wait to go back again next year! 

The BigE is running through September 30 at the Eastern States Exposition in West Springfield, MA, so make sure to visit (if you haven’t already) by then!