WEST SPRINGFIELD – After a year off due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Big E returned this year and as always members of the Reminder Publishing news staff took the time to visit the annual fair to try the food and see what the event had to offer.

Despite concerns over the delta variant, through the fair’s first three days attendance seemed to be on a record-breaking pace with over 260,000 people visiting the fair over the first weekend and more than100,000 people on the first Saturday alone.

The Big E runs through Oct. 3.

Let’s Eat

For lunch we went to the Massachusetts building to try some food with a more local flavor and we ended up deciding on maple bacon mac and cheese. While mac and cheese topped with bacon is not an uncommon combination, the addition of maple on the bacon bits atop the mac and cheese worked surprisingly well.

Before taking a bite, it seemed odd to combine maple with mac and cheese but the combination of flavors proved to be a good one and any hesitation I had disappeared. The bowl was surprisingly filling and left me satisfied with my choice for lunch before getting back out to see what the rest of the Big E had to offer.

One Hackett family tradition at the Big E going back as far as I can remember is getting the mini doughnuts from the various stands throughout the Big E’s campus. Each year we went we would have the doughnuts on site and then bring bags home to microwave later because we could not get enough of those little doughnuts.

Ten years since my last visit to the fair just smelling the doughnuts flooded me with nostalgia. While I was full from other snacks around the Big E, I had to take a bite of one of the doughnuts and the taste was just as great as I remembered from my childhood.

- Dennis Hackett

Cookies!

While the Big E may be appreciated for their repetition of delicious desserts, this year’s new offerings seemed to draw in passersby. The words “Cookie Dough on a Stick,” is exactly what caught my eye.

Scanning over the menu, this unique vendor had several options to choose from. Cookie dough flavors included classic chocolate chip, Reese’s peanut butter cup, monster cookie, grandma’s sugar cookie and even deep-fried chocolate chip cookie dough.

For a reasonable price, I selected the monster cookie – a cookie dough base infused with M&M’s and Reese’s pieces. Although the cookie dough portion may appear small, it was anything but. The first bite was soft and sweet, followed by a lasting, but not overwhelming hint of peanut butter.

The stick itself allows for you to savor the cookie dough rather than scarfing it down all at once. This new dessert topped off a day well spent and is a Big E must have.

While the chaos on the outskirts of the fair seemed to calm in the afternoon, we noticed crowds nearing in Storrowtown’s gazebo. To see for ourselves what all the excitement was about, we discovered Hilby – “The Skinny German Juggle Guy.” He is both a comedian and a juggler.

According to Noreen Tassinari, director of marketing at the Eastern States Exposition, Hilby is a “crowd favorite.” For the duration of the Big E, Hilby puts on three shows daily, at 1, 3:30 and 6 p.m.

For the entirety of his hour-long performance, cheers, applauding, and laughs echoed throughout the village. His act is captivating and appropriate for people of all ages; however, the adults may be more understanding of his whimsical sense of humor.

Nonetheless, if you want to see someone juggle three bowling balls, knives or even fire burning torches – Hilby is your guy.

- Lauren LeBel

The effects of the pandemic

With the nation still in a pandemic, it was interesting to observe how COVID-19 has affected a century-old institution such as the Big E.

The results were easy to see: there was plenty of unused space in the Better Living Center as well as vacancies in the state buildings.

Vendors who have been staples for decades are absent from these venues. This is not to say there isn’t still plenty to see, experience and purchase at the fair. It’s an acknowledgment the pandemic has made an impact.

For instance, in the Vermont building, there were no maple products for sale. That part of the building was vacant. In the Maine building a banner from the wild Maine blueberry industry read they would return in 2022. The Whoopie Pie bakery location in the Maine building was also empty. There were empty spaces in all of the state buildings.

Several vendors told me there were several reasons contributing to the absences. One is the mask policy for indoors. Some vendors apparently did not want to deal with that. Other vendors were having trouble hiring the appropriate number of employees.

In any event, I’m sure most fair-goers appreciated the fact the Big E was back. I would say a majority of people were following wearing a mask indoors. Some folks, such as myself, wore a mask outdoors as well.

I was surprised not to see any masks on sale from vendors as I thought novelty masks would be a common item. I’m willing to speculate merchants planning for the fair may have thought that by this time the pandemic would be over and masks would no longer be part of our daily fashion.

Here are a few of my tips for this year’s fair:

• Looking for a hearty meal? Try the foot-long bratwurst from The Student Prince. It’s delicious and at $13 is a good bargain at the fair. The fact the Student Prince “booth” offers seating is a plus.

• The 4-H kids were absent from the fair this year, but the New England Center was filled with quilts and other craft items that are always amazing. The cream puff bakery was doing good business.

• I had to restrain myself at the Better Living Center from buying a gadget that was new to be: a floor/carpet sweeper with large circular brushes that push debris into a collection pan. It looked good, but I could hear my wife asking why I bought that one when we already have a different one that works well.

I would not have any reasonable answer. To be clear I’m somewhat addicted to gadgets such as that sold at the Big E.

• Western Massachusetts was certainly represented at the Massachusetts state building with Koffee Kup Bakery from Chicopee and the Hampden County Beekeepers Association. Both are long-time exhibitors.

• I had never gone into the history of the Big E exhibit in a building not far from the New Hampshire building. Being a history buff, I found it very interesting as it detailed the growth of the fair and the many changes and improvements over the years.

• There is a new exhibit from the Western Massachusetts Irish Cultural Center in the Young Building that should be checked out.

- G. Michael Dobbs