West Springfield’s Big E Strategic Advisory Committee will meet every other Monday to take a deep look into the Big E Trust’s history.
Photo credit: Town of West Springfield
WEST SPRINGFIELD — The newly formed West Springfield Big E Strategic Advisory Committee officially held its first meeting on Oct. 20, kicking off a six-month process to dive deep into the trust and partnership with the Eastern States Exposition.
The Big E trust is 1% of Eastern States Expositions’ annual gross operating revenue, not just The Big E’s profits.
Funds are distributed to local businesses and organizations each year, tallying over $6 million since 1995.
The committee’s mission is to understand the trust, examine how it’s served the community and how it operates today and develop a recommendation for future use.
Town Councilor Brian Griffin serves as the committee chair, with Councilor James Welch as vice chair.
Residents Kristine Lessard, Ryan Kelleher and Seamus Cullinan interviewed and were accepted to serve as well.
Griffin began the meeting by reading Mayor Will Reichelt’s comments, who was unable to attend.
“More than 30 years ago, the town agreed to allow The Big E to expand from 12 to 17 days,” Reichelt wrote. “In exchange, the trust agreement provided a way for the community to share that success. With approximately $4 million in the trust today, a $25 million threshold for broader use, it’s reasonable to ask whether that arrangement is delivering what was envisioned. I hope this committee will examine both the trust and the broader partnership.”
Reichelt also wrote that examining the trust means listening to residents on the fair’s impact during its 17-day run, recognizing what the fairgrounds contribute throughout the year and asking whether the financial arrangement should change and how funds can best benefit West Springfield.
“[The Big E] is part of the community and our future, and we want this partnership to succeed,” Reichelt continued. “My responsibility is to ensure that success also benefits our residents and addresses the burdens that carry as a host community. I hope this is an opportunity to look honestly at the past 30 years, while building a strong strategic partnership for the years ahead.”
Town Council President Michael LaFlamme is not on the committee, but aided in its creation. He said there is a lot of public interest in the committee’s work and it will do a great job.
“The trust was created in 1995 and it’s been 31 years without any review,” LaFlamme said. “I don’t know any government, business or any organizations that would go three decades without looking at something like this, but the best time is the present and I’m glad that we’re doing it now.”
Griffin gave a shout-out to the 21 people who put their names in with interest to serve on the committee, stating their willingness speaks to how much people care about the town.
He said he hopes residents will still attend meetings and share their ideas, emphasizing opportunities for public input throughout the process. He also said a myriad of councilors will be at meetings depending on the subject.
“We’re going to seek perspective of the people, our residents, our taxpayers, our businesses,” Griffin said. “We’re going to seek, certainly, the Eastern States Exposition itself to present and be a part of this … We start tonight with an open slate. Knowing we have historical presence, we have an open slate.”
Cullinan said the committee has to go through over 30 years of documentation.
“There’s a lot of legal terms, a lot of information in there that not everybody, including myself, understands all that well,” Cullinan said. “I definitely think there’s some additional information that I’d want to try to request, whether that be financial numbers, memorandums of understanding or agreement agreements that have been previously done, payment structures, things like that.”
Welch said one of the first steps is to review what the trust was like in 1995 to allow the committee to have the same understanding of what it intended to do originally. He said it would also be great to hear ESE’s perspective on the trust.
“I think the only way that this can be a positive or have a good result is if we have two willing sides that are willing to work on this going forward and realize that both the success of the town and The Big E are intertwined,” Welch said. “I think that’s an important perspective to have, but also keeping in mind that over 30 years, things can change.”
The committee will continue to meet every other Monday for around six months. Its next meeting on Nov. 9 will look into the trust’s history and governance.
