The Big E ran September 18 through October 4, 2026, in West Springfield, seventeen straight days, and has ended for the year. Past years have drawn well over a million visitors; no precise recent attendance figure has been confirmed, so treat any exact headcount as an estimate. Details below are from thebige.com as it stood at this guide's July 18, 2026 publication, and each note that something was not published refers to that date.
Dates, gates and hours
The fair ran Friday, September 18 through Sunday, October 4, 2026, with no closed days. Gates opened at 8am daily. Inside, sections kept their own hours: the Big E Bakery ran 9am to 10:30pm, the exhibition buildings and Craft Common 10am to 10pm, and the Avenue of States, Storrowton Village Museum & Shops and the New England Center 10am to 9pm. The Midway ran 11am to 10pm Sunday through Thursday and 10am to 11pm Friday and Saturday.
What is inside
The Avenue of States holds a building for each of the six New England states, each staffed and run by that state's own delegation. Storrowton Village Museum recreates a 19th-century New England village on the grounds, with its own shops and demonstrations. The barns hosted the agricultural core, livestock and 4-H competitions and judging, with horticultural and craft exhibit halls elsewhere on the property. Cream puffs and eclairs were sold from stands across the grounds, not from one fixed location.
What tickets cost
Advance 1-day admission through thebige.com was listed at $17.50 for adults (ages 13 and up) and $11.50 for children ages 6 to 12. Children 5 and under were free at any time. A 17-Day Value Pass, good for every day of the run, was $71.50 for adults and $36 for children, with a photo-ID badge exchange on the first visit. Advance tickets were generally cheaper than paying at the gate.
Gate prices were less certain. Secondary sources quoted $20 for adult walk-up admission and $12 or $15 for children, and thebige.com stated no gate price on July 18. The site listed no senior admission rate either.
A Midway ride voucher was $35.50 in advance (78 ride credits on weekends, or an unlimited wristband on weekdays), and a cream puff and eclair 6-pack voucher was $38.50. Big E Arena concert tickets ranged from $44 to $484 depending on the performer and seat. The ticket page did not say whether a concert ticket included grounds admission. Court of Honor Stage premium seats were a flat $54.
Gate 9 parking
Gate 9 (875 Memorial Ave, West Springfield) was the main public parking lot and took cash only: $10 per car, $5 per motorcycle. There were no ATMs near the gate. Accessible parking was at Gate 9A: 580 paved spaces plus an adjacent two-acre unpaved overflow area for up to 1,000 more vehicles, first come, first served.
Self-contained RV camping was $40 per space per day, plus $10 for an extended awning or a second vehicle in the same space. Bicycles and scooters parked free at 915 Memorial Ave. Motor coaches and tour buses used off-site parking with a free shuttle into the fairgrounds. No off-site park-and-ride was confirmed for regular car traffic, so drivers used an on-site paid lot, or the walk-through gates (1A, 4, 5, 7 and 9A) if they were staying within walking distance.
Other gates and traffic
Gate 1 handled vendor and bus group parking, and Gate 10 was reserved for agriculture exhibitor parking. Pedestrian-only entry points were at Gates 1A, 1B, 4, 5, 7 and 9A. Every lot except Gate 9's public lot required a hangtag.
If traffic backed up, thebige.com said local police and State Police would redirect drivers to the quickest route. The directions page embedded a live Waze map.
Accessibility and mobility rentals
Visitors could bring their own mobility devices, and Scootaround was the exclusive scooter and wheelchair rental provider for the 2026 fair. Strollers rented for $15 a day and both wagons and double strollers for $20 a day. The mobility devices page listed no per-day rates for wheelchairs or powered scooters. Accessible parking was at Gate 9A.
Entertainment
The Big E Arena's 2026 lineup included Alice Cooper on Saturday, September 19 (the second night of the run), Ice Cube on Saturday, October 3, and Styx closing the run on October 4. Roger Daltrey, The Beach Boys, Brad Paisley, All Time Low and a Twisted Sister and Tesla pairing were also on the bill; the ticket page gave no dates for them. The free Court of Honor Stage, included with general admission, had Chubby Checker, Dax and Jet among its acts. The events calendar on thebige.com had the day-by-day schedule.
What was new for 2026
Several items called new for 2026 elsewhere were not. The Broccoli Bar dishes some sites listed as new were a 2025 addition, and the Super Wheel Ferris wheel had run since 2022. The nightly Big Parade down the Midway was a returning tradition. One addition was confirmed: deadmau5 joined the Arena lineup in late June and performed September 26. On July 18 thebige.com had not yet listed new 2026 food vendors or dishes.
The fair dates to the mid-1910s. The commonly cited founding year is 1916; the exact sequence is unclear, so treat 1916 as commonly cited, not confirmed.
Topsfield overlap
Topsfield Fair in Essex County, October 2 to 12, 2026, shared the last three days of The Big E.
