A Review - The 2021 Big 'E'

This year is the 39th time in a row that my wife and I have attended together. Last year, because of C-O-O-O-O-V-I-D! 😱 the normal fair held at the exposition grounds in West Springfield, MA was turned into a drive through food event only. You drove through in your vehicle and bought your fair food to go. The Log Cabin Restaurant in Holyoke did their "Taste of The Big 'E'" at their own facility on the side of Mt. Tom. My wife and I went with one of my biker buds on motorcycles. We had a nice lunch on their outdoor mountainside terrace overlooking the valley. Afterwards, we took the long way home east through MA and then headed south into Kommiecticut by way of Somers. While not the experience we are used to, I contend our record of attendance is intact.

This year the Big 'E' was happening at the exposition fairgrounds as normal. Well... almost. Right before it started, the city of West Springfield decided to institute a "Mask of Oppression" mandate just for the fair anytime you were inside the buildings. How'd that work out for them? Maybe 50% average compliance. Earlier in the day compliance was higher. We delayed going because it was raining pretty hard in the early morning, and it remained cool and cloudy until mid-morning. My wife wore her thin blue medical mask and I wore my 19th century train robber bandana. The way I wear it, it looks like it is covering my air intake/exhaust, but it is pulled up high on my face and there is almost ZERO restriction that way. It takes some extra fiddling for me to get it that way. In between buildings it was pulled down around my neck. As the morning wore on, the sun came out and by the afternoon it got warm, I just stopped putting my mask back up. So did my wife. So did a lot of other people. And NO ONE MADE A STINK! Outside, only the very few idiotic Branch-Covidians wore a face diaper walking around outside. One libtard ass-clown sitting outside with his wife by themselves on a bench nowhere near anyone were covered up, with their official "Biden-Harris" labeled face diapers virtue signalling all those around them how enlightened and extra special they were. I so wanted to take their photo to turn it into a meme, but they would have seen me and I had no intention of engaging with such morons even to lie to them.

In all the state buildings, we noticed lots of empty exhibitor floor space, and some of the permanent setups closed up with a sign saying "See You in 2022!" While outside in the open areas it was the same. Not as crowded with vendors and purveyors. At the main entrance to The Better Living Center, it is usually full of vendor tents, and 2 to 4 fundraisers raffling off cars and/or motorcycles. Nothing. Open pavement in the whole area. Inside The Better Living Center which is almost 3 acres of indoor exhibitor space is usually cram packed with fair-goers and exhibitors. Not this year. Again lots of open floor space and easy to walk around. Even though we always go on a weekday and it started out rainy, I believe attendance was off. I think it is because instead of a full year of planning like normal, the exposition was in doubt up until it was confirmed to occur a few short months ago. I assume many exhibitors and vendors went and made other commitments.

The Big 'E' has a no weapons policy, enforced by bag searches at the gate and metal detectors. Since I was in MA I was not carrying a firearm. But I sure did have a weapon. I possess a Blackie Collins poly resin serrated straight knife (aka The CIA Letter Opener) with an added para cord wrist loop. I carry that whenever I  have to pass through a metal detector. Airports are a different story, as the knife would get picked up on a full body scanner or x-ray. For those times it is packed in my checked luggage. While bringing a knife to a gunfight is never a good idea, the only guns inside the Big 'E' are hopefully on the hips of the numerous cops on the grounds.

This knife holds a pretty good edge and the serrations are nasty. I wish the handle were just a little more robust and the added wrist loop ensures I don't lose it in a fight. It sure would be a good offensive weapon too, say deployed from behind and jammed into an enemy's brain stem. But I digress.

This year's Big 'E' gives me hope that next year, people will be so fed up with all the BKT that the exposition will be like it always has been, and the wife and I will hit the Big Four-Oh anniversary of attendance.