The concert headliners and the carnival rides get most of the attention on the billboards, but the Big E — full name, Eastern States Exposition — is a first and foremost a multistate state fair, honoring every one of the six New England states. It showcases prize livestock and hosts a horse show with cash prizes in the tens of thousands of dollars. There's a petting zoo as well as a Farm-a-Rama exhibit. Paris Hilton plays DJ on the last day, and the fair offers demonstrations of such important arts as embroidering, pie-baking and goat-milking. It holds parades at the drop of a hat — for such occasions as Mardi Gras (in September!) or just because it's 5 p.m.
And if the main concert attractions aren't to your liking, perhaps you'll be drawn to Hilby, the Skinny German Juggle Boy, or the return of the Mitchell Showboat Marionettes (a Big E favorite from the 1980s and '90s, newly revived by the daughter of its founders) or the Swifty Swine Racing Pigs. There's a Circus Spectacular show, with jugglers, acrobats and clowns, performed daily at 1, 4 and 7 p.m. near the Giant Slide. Oh, yeah, there's a giant slide. Click here to continue reading.
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