‘We were astounded’: Big E ‘Golden Tickets’ sell so fast that some customers were cut off mid-transaction

WEST SPRINGFIELD — The Big E’s “Golden Ticket” lifetime passes sold out Wednesday in a minute and 2 seconds — so fast that potential customers were in the middle of completing their transactions when the online system kicked them off.

“We were astounded, and offer profound thanks to our friends and fans for their support of Eastern States Exposition and our mission of agriculture, education and community,” said Noreen P. Tassinari, a Big E spokeswoman.

She said The Big E has been contacted by jilted potential buyers and is working to complete their transactions. This means that The Big E will likely sell more than the 100 tickets — at $1,000 each — it had originally offered. But no one knows yet exactly how many.

On Monday, Eugene J. Cassidy, president and CEO of the Eastern States Exposition, said he’d consider offering even more lifetime passes if demand was a high as he’d expected it to be. Tassinari said Wednesday that no decision on an additional offering has been made.

Cassidy promised purchasers of the Golden Ticket a “lifetime of pleasure,” and he introduced the tickets at a news conference complete with an armored car and an armed guard.

The Golden Ticket offer was meant as a promotion to build interest in the fair months after the 2020 edition was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Cassidy said, and to thank a group of aficionados he called “Big E superfans.”

Cassidy has said he doesn’t expect to make money on the promotion in the long run. Regular admission for two people to the fair is $30, and parking is another $10 — so the $1,000 tickets represent 25 visits.

But the Golden Tickets are also a way for The Big E to generate some cash flow at a time when it is not doing much other business, besides renting winter storage space for boats and motorcycles. That’s a revenue stream The Big E didn’t have prior to the pandemic.

More than 1.5 million people visit the fair every year, and The Big E set a record in 2019 when over 1.6 million people attended. The event generates about $21 million in gross revenue each year, making up about 85% of the Eastern State Exposition’s total gross revenue.

So no fair in 2020 means a budget gap. The Big E has already laid off 30% of its year-round staff and workers and management took pay cuts.

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