It has been a moment!

The sad fact is, it has been lots and lots of moments since I have posted here on my blog page–way too long.

Life has been quite difficult for me over these couple of years. I finally feel ready to dive back into some creativity.

While I have been gearing up to refocus time on my blog again, thoughts have swirled around in my head of adding a little more variety and possible slight restructure of my page. Keep an eye out for an update posting, hopefully soon, with more details.

In the meantime…

A few days ago, while sorting through some things, I came across the postcard that I feature today in this One Postcard Saturdays piece.

Chances are, after the calendar flips over to the month of September, thoughts of attending The Big E may come to mind–if you live in New England, that is.

Over the years, with both of my parents and grandmother (Gra Gra) all having been very involved with the 4-H Club, I heard many stories about the “Springfield Fair”–as they referred to it.

My mother had the best story of all: She happened to be staying at the fair with her 4-H Club on September 21st, 1938, when our most severe hurricane hit southern New England.

My featured postcard today, “Greetings from Eastern States Exposition” is a linen, white-bordered postcard that was sent to Gra Gra when they lived on Fairview Ave., in West Warwick, RI.

The front side of the postcard shows buildings from what is called the Avenue of States. The first to be built was the Massachusetts building. There are now a total of six buildings representing all of the New England states; however, the postcard was postmarked in 1936 which was prior to the Rhode Island structure completion in 1958 and Connecticut completed in the 1930s (assuming some time after the printing of this postcard).

I am not sure of the last name of the sender, it looks to be signed by “Bert”. While Gra Gra’s first name is Bertha, sometimes called Bert, it is not sent from her to home since it is addressed to “Mrs.” not “Mr.” (if being sent to Pop Pop) and it is not her handwriting. The sender of the postcard wrote the following: “Having a marvelous time. How I wish you could be here. You ought to see the exhibits in these buildings. Are they swell. Love, Bert”

This postcard was published by Springfield News Company, Springfield, Mass. On the reverse side of the postcard, appears the following block of printed information: “The Exposition serves the ten North Atlantic States, but New England more intimately has taken a keen interest in the progress of the institution by the erection of state buildings on which is now known as the Avenue of States. The first state building to be erected was that of Massachusetts built by the Commonwealth through legislative act, in 1918, at a cost of $50,000. The land for state buildings has been deeded to the respective Commonwealths and the buildings and activities are administered by special state commissions. The use of native materials have been largely used in their construction.”

The conceptual idea for the Eastern States Exposition, held annually in West Springfield, Mass, began just after the turn of the 20th century by Joshua L. Brooks.

The fairgrounds were developed upon 175 acres of swampland. The first event was held in 1916 by the National Dairy Show. In fall of 1917, the first Eastern States Exposition (a.k.a. The Big E) was held for the public and has been held annually in September, excluding the timeframes of WWI and WWII.

The Big E will be starting soon for 2024, running this year from September 13th through the 29th. It has been a few years since I have been able to attend but I am really hoping to make it there this year!

Until next time…

Reference Source:

Website: https://www.easternstatesexposition.com/p/about/history;
Accessed 6 September 2024