More Exciting Events

“Agriculture is our culture,” President and Chief Executive Officer Eugene Cassidy of Eastern States Exposition reminds us. For over a century, we have celebrated the farms that supply our local populace, define our community’s way of life, and build a foundation for our future, seed by seed. These hardworking hands have passed down agrarian legacies from generation to generation with a sense of pride. We honor the country folk that sow, harvest, and raise livestock in our region year-round with utmost admiration.

Eastern States Exposition has partnered with a few close friends of ours to highlight their work and discuss what it is that makes agriculture their culture.

Meet Maureen “Mo” Freniere: Deputy Director of Sales at Eastern States Exposition by day and farmer/caretaker by night.

Take a trip to Prospect Valley Farm, a Freniere family-owned-and-operated beef and dairy farm in Westfield, Massachusetts. Our very own Maureen Freniere provides a brief history of her business, her love of agriculture, and shares why Eastern States Exposition is paramount to her family’s mission.

Mike Antonellis recounts how Ciesluk Farms of Deerfield, Massachusetts, survived one of the greatest natural disasters in local history: the flooding of 2023.

When Antonellis lost 65% of his crops to stormwater surges, the future of farming looked bleak for him and other agrarian businesses in Western Massachusetts. Antonellis reflects on the hardships he endured and the salvific Massachusetts Farm Resiliency Fund relief effort by the state and proud sponsors, like Eastern States Exposition.

“It’s not a family farm – it’s part of the family,” states Gordon Cook II, recipient of The Big E’s 2022 Agriculture Adventures Award.

Cook Farms in Hadley, Massachusetts, offers delectable dairy and beef products, such as their homemade ice cream, through their storefront: Flayvors of Cook Farm. To the Cook family, agriculture is fiscal stability, holistic education, and a labor of love – above all, agriculture is their culture.

"A tale as old as time: the dairy farmer and the sheep farmer fall in love at a state fair. "

This year, Scott and Moira Poitras celebrated 23 years of marriage – a marriage that took place on The Big E fairgrounds! For even longer than that, these two and their respective relatives have upheld the farming traditions that are embraced by Eastern States Exposition, right down to our mission statement.