Two days ahead of its annual kickoff, the president of The Big E minimized widespread concerns of overcrowding at last year’s fair as “trolling” and claimed people were simply “inconvenienced.”
Multiple viral social media videos show gridlocked crowds across The Big E in 2024, and MassLive received feedback from more than 100 people — many of whom said they felt unsafe due to the crowd sizes.
“I don’t give a lot of credence to people who troll negativism on social media. I mean, we had 1,600,000 people in the fairgrounds, we have 96% retention from year to year of our customer base,” president and CEO of the Eastern States Exposition, Eugene Cassidy, told MassLive on Wednesday.
Even as he downplayed broader concerns, Cassidy conceded that “choke points” exist on the grounds. But he continued to diminish the significance, saying they occur at every fair in the country.
However, the West Springfield Police Department — a key partner in public safety at the fair — has recognized the mounting concerns of the crowd sizes and problematic areas.
“That video and those photographs you saw of all those people packed in there … I’ve never seen that like that in 28 years,” West Springfield Police Department spokesperson Joseph LaFrance told MassLive.
Cassidy did offer advice to those with concerns.
“I suggest people look to attend on a day that it’s less crowded,” Cassidy said.
The executive underlined that The Big E contributes economically to the region, and said the 96% return rate is “the proof is in the acceptance of the product that we create.”
“We take what we do at the Eastern States with absolute seriousness, and we don’t run what I often refer to as the fourth largest public event that takes place in North America without being acutely aware of every possible impact that we have on this region, and that includes public safety,” Cassidy said.
“You can’t run an operation that becomes the second largest city in the Commonwealth on three weekends of the year without running certain risks,” he added.
Cassidy dismisses concerns as ‘clickbait’
Last year, the most popular day of The Big E also broke its all-time daily single attendance record at 178,608 on Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024. In 2022 and 2021, the highest daily attendance was about 177,700 and 177,200, respectively.
As the fourth-largest fair in North America, The Big E only gets bigger each year, drawing more than a million people to its 175-acre fairgrounds for its carnival rides, new foods and musical performances.
The fair in West Springfield runs from Friday, Sept. 12, through Sept. 28, spanning 17 days, and the 175-acre fairground attracts daily attendances that can exceed the population of the neighboring city of Springfield.
In 2021, The Big E’s attendance surpassed The Minnesota State Fair, which has a fairground nearly twice the size at 322 acres. Capacity limits are uncommon for outdoor spaces, but a lack of set limits for large-space grounds “absolutely” creates an issue, Bryan Martineau, CEO of BAM Public Safety, previously told MassLive.
This year, organizers plan to move one popular vendor — the “Macho Taco” booth — from Commonwealth Avenue to East Road in efforts to reduce fairground congestion, which West Springfield Mayor William Reichelt said experienced overcrowding in 2024.
The Big E is also offering discounted evening tickets when foot traffic is lighter and has a Bargain Bites deal to encourage people to come on a Monday, Cassidy said.
Still, Cassidy dismissed social media videos of the large crowds as “clickbait.”
“That’s somebody who’s looking for clickbait and likes. I don’t buy it,” Cassidy said. He again referenced that The Big E has a 96% return rate of fairgoers every year, which he raised several times during the interview.
“There are very few products in America that have 96% acceptance. That’s all you need to know. And I need to be able to call horse (expletive) horse (expletive),” he said.
“We have people who are inconvenienced, I’m not disputing that. What I fail to understand, that I see value in, is just beating that drum, that’s all.”
Last year, MassLive received a statement from the Eastern States Exposition saying they increased security details and worked closely with law enforcement and emergency service partners to ensure a safe experience for attendees.
“Thanks to these efforts, only minor incidents occurred, with just one arrest related to a domestic matter in the parking lot — an outstanding safety ratio given the high volume of attendees,” the statement read.
The current safety measures employed by The Big E through partnerships with the West Springfield Police and other public safety entities include metal detectors, over 100 video surveillance cameras and overhead drones monitoring the grounds — controlled by The Big E, LaFrance said, and some by the State Fire Marshal, West Springfield Mayor William Reichelt previously told MassLive.
Uniformed officers patrol on foot, bikes, ATVs and golf carts, with officers watching for criminal activity. The fairgrounds also have their own police and fire stations, a dispatch center, holding cells and a command hub, LaFrance said.
Gates are staffed by police and security, cruisers patrol key parking areas, staffing ramps up for concerts and events and the coverage starts days before the fair opens.
911 call at the fair
On a night of record-breaking calls last year, the lines for pickle pizza and mozzarella grew overwhelmingly to the point someone called 911.
At 5:11 p.m. on Sept. 21, 2024, a person reported the hazardous conditions on Commonwealth Avenue, telling police that pedestrian traffic was completely blocked by long lines at food vendors — especially near Angelo’s Pizza and Macho Taco — with no way to get through.
Conditions were the same the day after the 911 call, said fairgoer Maura Shea, who worked for the Holyoke AMR ambulance service. She described how on edge she and her coworkers were due to the amount of congestion.
“It was deadlocked, nobody was moving anywhere. You were basically shoulder to shoulder … you couldn’t even turn around and you’re hitting people, they’re getting mad,” Shea said at the time.
Cassidy said he was unaware of the 911 call made last year, and was “very suspect” if it actually happened. He added that he feels “bad for the circumstances that you’re describing.”
LaFrance acknowledged the call made, and said the department will “definitely be keeping an eye if those large crowds gather in that particular lane or corridor” of Commonwealth Avenue again. He added that “if push came to shove, we would get through to the person that needs help and they’re calling 911.”
“I would imagine if things got really bad again in a corridor like that, where there was crowding, one of the things [The Big E] could possibly do is temporarily shut down the vendors to disperse people,” LaFrance said, adding he thinks this year’s redesign will keep that from happening.
Cassidy, however, isn’t as confident that something can be done during the 17-day fair.
“We couldn’t move their stand in the middle of the fair last year because, logistically, that would have been impossible to do,” he said.
Out of the six stands that were relocated this year, Macho Taco is the only vendor to be moved off of Commonwealth Avenue, one of the most congested areas of the fair.
What are other fairs doing for crowds?
With fair season getting underway in states across the country, several are reporting new ways they’re keeping people safe in big crowds.
Last year, 14-year-old Darean Davis was shot and killed in the parking lot of the Michigan State Fair, WXYZ reported. That resulted in new policies such as reducing fair hours, no reentry and minors not being allowed in without an accompanying guardian.
“We go to an international convention and a lot of fair producers and event producers are sadly experiencing the same issues, so a lot of fairs are putting similar precautions in place,” McKenzie McLaughlin, manager of the Michigan State Fair, told the news outlet.
The fair has also hired a private security team for additional help on the fairgrounds, according to the Detroit News.
At the Kentucky State Fair, there’s a limit of six minors per chaperone, and fair officials are implementing new security equipment, such as a multi-million dollar security system, according to the local news outlet WDRB.
The State Fair of Texas recently unveiled its safety measures for the upcoming fair later this month, stating that a new clear bag policy will be implemented for all guests, according to NBC’s Dallas-Fort Worth TV station. The Texas fair also won’t be offering free admissions to high school students this year due to safety concerns, the Dallas Morning News reported.
Last month, the Great New York State Fair rolled out an alert system where fairgoers subscribed to a system that provided real-time updates on weather, security, and other important information via text messages.
And volunteers walked around Wisconsin State Fair Park in orange shirts as part of a community-based violence prevention effort, according to TMJ4.
In 2023, the Minnesota State Fair Police Department stated it had a security budget of more than $5 million, according to CBS News, after there were fights and gunfire inside and outside the gates the year before.
In 2024, the Minnesota fair had 185 officers from 65 different agencies statewide on the fairgrounds, which had increased from the previous year after getting feedback on security, KARE11 reported.
Cassidy said he has “spent a lot of time on the road” talking to other fair managers about safety. The common takeaway he’s noticed?
“There are choke points on every fairgrounds,” he said.
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