The first of the State Fairs after deciding to embark on the State Fair bucket list was The Big E in Springfield, MA. The Big E was formally known as The Eastern States Exposition. It starts the 2nd Friday after Labor Day and runs for 7 days. It even gets the fun title of being the 5th largest fair in the nation (and I’m pretty sure the largest on the East Coast). The Big E represents Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island.

We flew into Warwick, RI. It was cheaper than all the other options in the area. We would then have to drive from RI to MA (the middle of MA) by going through Connecticut. The journey would take about 2 hours. We arrived late on Wednesday night, had dinner and set off Thursday morning for the fair. It was a very scenic drive.

We arrived in good time and was able to park in the fair lot ($10). There wasn’t really a big nice main entrance. But, upon entry, while pausing to get ourselves together (and to prepare for the misty weather), we came upon a free wine tasting, so that’s how we started.

Prior to going to the fair, we had done some research…what to eat, what to see, what to do. It wasn’t an extensive list; we weren’t sure what to expect. The fair was of decent size. Some of the attractions we saw included: Cast in Bronze, CIRCUS at the Fair, Storrowville Village, Glassblowing, a blacksmith, Immersive Ireland, a comedy juggler, and Dolly’s Mechanical Bull.

Some of the foods we tried: crab rangoon pizza, supreme schinitzel sandy, a corn dog, a maple donut, a lobster roll and a cookies n’ cream creme eclair.

One of the things that made this state fair unique was the Avenue of States. On this street, each state had a building that had local vendors from their state. It was really cool to be able to walk through each “state”. Oh, and the other interesting thing was that there were Footsie Wootsies in several areas. They’re mechanical feet massagers. They did also have a butter sculpture.

All in all, The Big E was pretty fun. And it also had some pretty unique elements that you wouldn’t see in other fairs. Highlight for me: Avenue of the States. Strangest thing: foot massagers (I mean they make sense, but also a little weird).