The Big E or the Eastern States Exposition is New England’s regional fair. It is not only a state fair, but a six state fair! It is an adventure that my family drives two hours to explore every mid-September to the beginning of October.
A lovely view of the Massachusetts statehouse and the sky at Springfield’s Big E.
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The Big E’s Parade
The Big E’s massive parade goes all around the fairgrounds.
The Big E has a large parade that occurs in the afternoon down its main thoroughfare. There are cars, bands, animals and lots of people, but our highlight is catching the beads being thrown from the Mardi Gras floats.
Shopping
Little experimenters at the Mad Science booth at the Big E.
You can shop for absolutely anything at the fair- family pictures, clothes, home wares, drones, Segways, airbrushed hats, furniture or casts of your families’ hands. My kids spent the most time at the Mad Science booth where there were lots of science experiments to buy and take part in.
Midway
The midway at the Big E is full of thrilling carnival rides.
Like any good fair, the Big E has a complete midway with tons of games and rides. We mainly skipped these this year, as they were really expensive. Rides were between 5-10$ a piece and most of the games were around 4$.
Fair Animals
Why hello, Mr. Camel!
State House Row
My favorite place to spend time at the Eastern States Exposition is roaming through the area known as the Avenue of the States. In this area are replicas of the New England states’ original state houses which contain shops and food unique to each state. If you are visiting New England and can’t visit each state in real life, it will give you a flavor of the states. A few examples…the Rhode Island house has Del’s lemonade and hot wieners, the Maine house has blueberries, Whoopie Pies and loaded baked potatoes, Vermont has cheese, Ben and Jerry’s ice cream and maple everything, Massachusetts has seafood and white and red raspberries, New Hampshire has apple pie and apple cider. Imagine eating your way happily through these houses!
Carnival Foods
There is also every kind of carnival food that you could imagine eating at the Big E. We tried a camel burger (like fishy beef, we weren’t fans), a Cajun alligator burger that was quite good, a yummy rattlesnake sausage. The kids and I also ate tons of normal fair food; funnel cakes, cotton candy, corn dogs and chili fries. What is the weirdest food you have tried and what is your favorite fair food?
Read on for our favorite New England fall activities.
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