With only 11 vendor booths available in the Rhode Island Building at the Big E in West Springfield, Mass., it took one store owner years to get a spot, but he’s capitalizing on it now.
Duke Marcoccio, owner of the Cranston-based collectibles shop My Little Town, this year ran out of 10,000 glossy brochures touting his holiday ornaments and iconic state landmarks, and had to order more. Not sure of his total investment in the popular New England fair, he said expenses include the cost of the booth, plus costs to rent a truck and pay for food, help and a hotel stay.
“I don’t want to give you a total because it might scare me, too,” Marcoccio joked, referring to his investment. “But I’m picking up residual business. … even it’s just giving [customers] a business card.”
Booths in the Rhode Island state building at the Eastern States Exposition, which ran from Sept. 13-29, are leased by the business owner for $25 a square foot, or about $4,000 and up, said Jane Panarello, the Rhode Island building manager. She is also international marketing manager for the R.I. Economic Development Corporation.
Started in 1916, the Big E features agricultural and retail goods and exhibitions from the six New England states. Each state has a permanent building and designated day when it is featured at the fair.
Marcoccio actually picked up a surprise order. Big E President Eugene J. Cassidy stopped by his booth and commissioned a 2016 ornament to mark the 100th anniversary of the Big E, according to Marcoccio and Catherine Pappas, the fair’s communications manager.
Attracting repeat business beyond fair borders is an aspiration of many of the retailers here.
“It’s a big money maker for us at Del’s,” said Joe Padula, executive vice president of the Del’s Lemonade Corp. in Cranston, which has 21 franchises nationwide. “Other than making money, we get a lot of new customers. And whenever they see a Del’s [while] traveling, they stop and buy it because they’ve seen it at the Big E, so product recognition is a big thing.”
This year, according to an attendance ticker on the fair website, 46,654 people attended the fair on Sept. 17, which happened to be “Rhode Island Day.” There were only 13,000 people there on Rhode Island Day in 2012 because it rained, Pappas said, so this year, “it was a great day for Rhode Island Day.”
Lady Ann’s Candies of Warwick has had a booth at the fair for nearly 30 years, said general manager Barbara Anatone. For the fudge maker and seller of gourmet apples, dipped in caramel or chocolate and sprinkled with cashews, M&Ms and other goodies, the Big E is one of several large fairs attended across the country.
“It is our main business,” Anatone said. “The [foot] traffic is unbelievable. It’s one of the nicest fairs throughout the country.”
Vendors are not alone in featuring their products in the building; Brodeur spends time at the fair and along with Panarello, markets the state at a tourism booth set up for that purpose.
Vendors generate a lot of future business with the contacts they make at the fair, Panarello added. Every couple of years a vendor leaves and the state brings a new business in, she said.
“We have all these small businesses and the revenue they make here – it helps them make up any shortfall from the previous year,” she said. “From product enhancement to visibility, it really helps these small businesses get in front of an audience they may not normally be able to get in front of.”
As building superintendent, Panarello this year oversaw some roof repair and installation of a new floor.
The state tourism booth ran out of WaterFire brochures on the fourth day, she said, as well as county guides for the beach area.
“They all go,” she said. “People have GPS these days, but the most-requested item is a state map.” •
