The newly unveiled logo for the Eastern States Exposition
The report, conducted by Amherst-based Regional Economic Models, Inc. (REMI), reveals the Big E, now the fifth largest fair in North America, to be an economic juggernaut for Hampden County, which owns one of the lowest per capita income rates in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
“There is no question that the Exposition is a complex economic engine,” CEO and President Eugene Cassidy said. “The overall economic output of the Eastern States Exposition year-round is more than $479 million, the gross regional product is more than $299 million annually.”
Cassidy then spoke of the jobs created by the Big E, which swell by several thousand during the 17-day fair held every fall in West Springfield.
“The Exposition has created some 3,000 permanent jobs in the Hampden County community, and generates an additional 3,500 jobs on the campus during the run of the fair.” he said, adding that $92 million in disposable income is generated by the organization. “The Exposition represents 4.9 percent of all Hampden County performing arts and spectator sports spending, and generates 11.5 percent of the annual sales of the accomodations and food services sector in the region.”
On the state level, the ESE adds more than $3 million in income tax revenue to the Commonwealth, along with $1.4 million in sales tax revenue.
“We generate $427,000 in local hotel tax revenues alone, and $3.3 million in food and beverage taxes,” Cassidy said.
Perhaps most telling though, the REMI report uncovered that the Exposition is providing a destination for workers and families in the area.
“More than 2,200 people choose to live in Hampden County because of the Exposition’s economic presence,” Cassidy said.
“When we test out these scenarios, we first build a regional control – a status quo, what currently exists in a region and what it’s set to look like years down the road,” said Brett Albert, junior associate economist at REMI, on how his firm calculated the Big E’s regional value. “We took out all the direct economic activity that the ESE generates on an annual basis – ticket sales, investment in maintenance, etc – along with some induced economic activity they bring into the region – accomodations, food services – those kinds of things they don’t spend on directly here, but in the local region.”
Albert’s calculations showed that the ESE had strong indirect and induced impacts on the surrounding area.
“Stuff like the ‘supply chain effect’, where they’re getting goods and services that they produce in a final product,” he said. “And from that, the ‘local consumption effect’, so everyone employed directly and indirectly by the ESE activities, they spend a certain percentage of their paychecks in the local economy, which creates further economic activity.”
While REMI was unable to crunch the numbers down to the Big E’s dollars-and-cents impact on municipalities like Westfield and Southwick, Albert said the ESE’s impact upon it’s western neighbors is still significant.
“They (the ESE) have more of an indirect impact, and that has a lot to do with the employment opportunity and the relative compensation increase that an entity like the ESE brings to an area,” he said. “So even if they aren’t directly employed through here, the presence of this (The Big E) increases the attractiveness of the region for businesses and residents alike.”
Cassidy believes that greater Westfield is well-represented in the organization’s employment ranks.
“Our own payroll swells from 30 people a week to 1,000 a week during the fair, and we retain about 95 percent of our employees from year-to-year. Just during the 17 days, another 2,500 are employed here,” Cassidy said, adding that the ‘vast majority’ of ESE employees come from West Springfield, Springfield, Westfield, and Agawam. “They’re very local people, and the amount of money that is generated here in this county has an impact on every inhabitant, every citizen, of the region.”
