The Making of Maria Margerita: An interview with artist Pat Ormsby

If you’ve driven down Memorial Avenue lately, you may have noticed Eastern States Exposition’s newest guest outside of Gate 2 – Maria Margerita, The Mardi Gras Dog. The West Highland Park Terrier is one of 46 colorfully decorated dogs, or “Terriers Around Town,” gracing businesses and various areas throughout the town. Each is sponsored, with the proceeds benefiting West Springfield school arts programs.

The project was spearheaded by Jane Barrientos and Christine Costanzi, who are hoping to raise $70,000 to fund art projects for school-aged children in the community. Although West Springfield is not typically known as an arts town, the women said that businesses have responded very well to sponsoring the project.

Our Mardi Gras puppy was designed, painted and adorned by West Springfield resident and artist, Pat Ormsby. I got the special chance to speak with Ormsby via phone last month to see just how one goes about designing a four-foot tall fiberglass dog.

Ormsby, a known oil painter around town, was approached by the Terriers Around Town committee to sketch an idea for the new project. Having seen projects similar to this in other towns, Ormsby believed the flashier the design, the more fun the dog would be. She initially created a “Fancy Lady” sketch, similar to a 1920’s flapper, which included the individual jewels and mirrored tiles, as well as a flapper headband.

Exposition officials asked for a “Mardi Gras” dog and fell in love with Ormsby’s flashy puppy design. Their only request was her headband be changed to a Mardi Gras mask since the Mardi Gras Parade has been an annual tradition at The Big E since 2000. The Westie was given the name “Maria Margerita, The Mardi Gras Dog” by Ormsby’s granddaughter.

The artist used shiny, colorful jewels and mirrored tiles to create the fancy outfit for Maria Margerita. Using bondo, the same tool used in car repair, Ormsby stuck each jewel on individually and the putty would dry within five minutes.

A lot of research went into choosing the materials and creating a design plan. There were also a lot of requirements for what kinds of supplies were used, since the dog would be outside in the sun, rain, and dirt.

“The biggest challenge I faced was the fact that I had never done anything like this before,” said Ormsby. “If I make a painting that I don’t like, I can just throw it away. I couldn’t just throw this away.”

However, once she got going, her creation came to life fast. “It took much longer to plan the design than to execute it,” said Ormsby.

While working on the exquisite jeweled blouse, Ormsby spray-painted the bottom half of the dog blue. She initially made several attempts to create a skirt for Maria, however, according to Ormsby, nothing looked quite right. She explained her dilemma to one of the neighborhood boys who was there on a visit when he said, “Oh, I thought she was wearing jeans.” And there, the idea for blue jeans on Maria Margerita was born. Ormsby also gave the puppy hot pink nail polish and lipstick, a Rolex watch and gold bracelet to add to the “flashy effect.”

The last remaining challenge for Ormsby was designing the Mardi Gras Mask. For the first time in her life as an artist, she used sculpting clay. After several failed attempts that included the clay sticking to her kitchen table and on wax paper, Ormsby knew she just had to give it her best shot and affix the quickly-drying mask as soon as it was molded. “If I had to do it again, it’d be no problem. I just wasn’t used to the consistency of the clay the first time,” she said.

Be on the lookout for all 46 Terriers who will make an appearance in the Big E Parade at 5 p.m. on West Springfield Day, Monday, September 20!

To get the latest information, become a Fan of Terriers Around Town on Facebook!

We're just two months away...

It’s been a busy – and exciting – week here at The Big E! With only 62 days left until the Northeast’s largest fair open its gates for another round of fun, it seems like everyone is in full swing.

If you’ve been to TheBigE.com this week, you’ve noticed that we have a BRAND NEW website! (If you haven’t seen it yet, you have to check it out!) Months and months of preparation went into designing the site, transferring files from the old site and populating new content – and to be honest, it looks great! The new site is bursting with beautiful colors, unique photographs from last year’s fair and flash animation. And it’s very easy to navigate –anything you’d ever want to know, from which vendors will be here this year to how to enter the Karo Syrup Perfect Pie contest, is on the site and organized in convenient drop-down menus.

What’s even cooler is that the move was a big one, changing over from one very basic site to four new sites – Eastern States Exposition, The Big E, Storrowton Village and the ESE Foundation. So it’s now easier than ever to stay up to date with the year-round events we have on the grounds. If you’re looking for information on ESE scholarships or thinking about getting married at the picturesque Village, you’ll be able to find information on those things too.

The website was designed by Ntelligent Systems in California and meetings began in early February with their principal Michael Geisen. So much time and hard work has gone into this new site by many of our staff members and it’s great to see it up and running! We hope you enjoy it.

The other big news is that Country music star MIRANDA LAMBERT is coming to The Big E on Saturday, Oct. 1 at 8pm as part of the CMT Revolution Tour, with Guest Star Eric Church and Introducing Josh Kelley!

Miranda’s career is on fire – this year she won three ACM awards, Top Female Vocalist of the Year, Album of the Year and Video of the Year, and CMT Female Video of the Year. On the rise and with no sign of slowing down, Miranda is poised to make a lasting impression on the Country music world. She’s going to totally light up the stage! Tickets are $29/ $39 for seats, and $49 for the “dance party area,” where the Big E crew is going to remove a bunch of rows of seats so people can dance and be really close to the stage… awesome!
Tickets go on sale tomorrow (7/16) at http://www.thebige.com/ and at The Big E Box Office.

Watch the ACM Video of the Year : White Liar by Miranda Lambert

The grounds department is busy planting flowers and getting the grounds ready for the Fair. Last week I got a great flip video of the dome from the Mallary Rotunda being taken down for refurbishing. (It was really windy out that day!) It was unbolted and removed by a crane in preparation for a new fabric cover. The ESE painters are currently sanding and refinishing the dome and it will be reinstalled soon.

Like I said, there’s always something to be done around here! For the latest updates, find us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, and join The Big E mailing list at http://www.thebige.com/!

How Does It All Come Together?

As a child, I remember looking forward to the magic that was The Big E. It was one of the staples in my family's fall schedule; the other being "The First Day of School" and clearly the latter wasn't the highlight of my September.

We'd show up, and the lights would be dazzling, the vendors would be serving fried dough and corn dogs, and children would already be screaming as they swished down the Big Yellow Slide. I'd stand in line as my parents anxiously waited for a Maine Baked Potato, and then we'd sit on the Avenue of States, eating an array of local fare and watching the spectacular Mardi Grad parade. A thousand thoughts would cross my mind on that special night each year, like "How do you run away with the circus?" and "How many people have gotten sick from that crazy twisting rollercoaster?" but never once did it occur to me "How did this all happen?"

Even as a teenager, when I would come to the Fair with my friends and we would spend all of our quarters at the games on the Midway, in an attempt to win a stuffed animal, it still never occurred to me that there must be months and months of organization that goes into systematizing a 17-day fair.

The performers didn't just show up at the Comcast Arena Stage, local radio stations didn't just start promoting Big E shows on their own, and the Cream Puff Bakery didn't just magically start producing those little delicious pieces of heaven. There are actually dozens of people behind Eastern States Exposition that get "the ship to sail" for three weeks every fall by organizing hundreds of vendors, carnies and employees to carry it all out.

It wasn't until this May when I really realized how much effort went into organizing the Northeast's largest fair, and it won't be until the Fair comes alive on Sept. 17 that I'll really see the end product. As the new summer writer for the Marketing department, I am so excited to see the Fair from a completely different perspective- behind the scenes. I get to see, and even more importantly, be a part of all the intricate workings that make The Big E... THE BIG E!!!

My guess is that most of the common fairgoers don't really know how a production this big comes together either. Who writes the guidebook? Who decides what the special theme of the Creative Arts contests will be? How many sheep are in Farm-A-Rama? Who books the entertainment? My hope is to use this space to answer some of these questions, and give you an in-depth insight to what is new and exciting this year at The Big E, and all in the perspective of a Big E "newbie."

Storrowton Village at The Big E
A bit of Early Americana

One of my favorite parts of The Big E is Storrowton Village. It is just east of the Avenue of States and is an authentic 19th century community set around an old fashioned village green. About 80 years ago Helen Storrow (of Storrow Drive fame) was the chairperson of the Exposition’s Home department and she purchased various Early American properties around New England that were abandoned or going to be demolished. She had them moved, stone by stone, and reconstructed. There is a country store, a blacksmith shop, a one room schoolhouse, a meetinghouse, law office and three houses, all around the green with a gazebo. During the Fair the Village becomes a living museum, with people dressed in 19th century attire who talk about and demonstrate daily life in the old days. You can watch a blacksmith at work, learn how to churn butter, or find out what school was like when all the kids went to one classroom to learn. Every day at noon at the Fair, they hold old fashioned games for fair-kids, like hoop rolling and 3-legged races.

Storrowton Village has many activities throughout the year, too. For children, there are school programs from October to June and Early American Summer Days in August. For all ages, Tales from Haunted New England is presented near Halloween, and Yuletide at Storrowton, Yuletide Open House Tours and Yuletide by Lantern Light and take place before the holidays.

Year-round, Storrowton’s Gift Shop has gifts and collectibles, and the Storrowton Tavern is a favorite destination for traditional American fare.

Last day for $5 after 5 p.m. admissions

If you want to save more than half the normal cost of admission, come after 5 p.m. to The Big E today. It's the last day of this special admission fare. You'll get to see the sparkling lights of The Big E and Midway, and a bit of the Big Easy with the Grande Mardi Gras Float Parade, sponsored by Foxwoods Resort Casino, at 7:30 p.m. And, of course, all the attractions and sights of the fair go nonstop until 10 p.m.

The Start of October at The Big E

It's October and no one can believe it, but the weather proves it's so. Outside on the Fairgrounds I see a lot of sweaters, hoodies and even some hats, but of course there is always someone in a sleeveless tee shirt, because for some, covering up their intricate tattoos is unthinkable!

There is such a mix of people here at the Fair, it shows there is no such thing as a typical Fairgoer. That's why there's so many different kinds of attractions and exhibits here at The Big E. But as different as people are, they pretty much want some of the same things -- to forget the everyday humdrum for a while, to be amused and excited, to see or learn something new, to eat good food, to get a good value. We do it all, and more.

The Eastern States Exposition Horse Show is going on in the Coliseum right now, with the Hunters and Jumpers, and Hunt Seat Equitation classes competing until the end of the Fair. It's really something to see those riders and horses taking their turns in the ring. The Coliseum is a building that is historic on the Fairgrounds. It used to be where the Springfield Indians professional hockey team played back in the 1950s and '60s. Now the building is where (during the Fair) there are all sorts of demonstrations and competitions, from oxen pulling contests to sheep herding. The building has the flavor of an old-time arena -- nothing like a modern concrete stadium.

Thelma Houston's free shows start today at the Fair. She has two shows a day on the Court of Honor Stage, at 3 and 8 p.m. Everyone always asks her if she is related to Cissy or Whitney Houston, but she is not. She is a disco star, who had the number one song, "Don't Leave Me This Way," and other hits. I love it when people dance while the performers do their thing. Especially the kids.

Of course, tomorrow night is the big Sugarland concert, which has been sold out for months. Everyone is getting very excited about this. Me, too.

My name is Deena. I worked at The Big E in the Marketing Department for all of the 1990s, and am back for the first time in eight years. Of course, I never missed a year as a Fairgoer, just as an employee. Lots of things are the same, thank you, but there's lots new, too.

Like the Circus. The Big E Circus is in the same spot on the grounds, and is still a traditional European-type circus, but the acts are always new. Sometimes there is a performer who returns, like this year's Flying Pages high trapeze artists, but they have new exciting stunts to astound and thrill the crowds. Neecha's Dobermans do the most amazing tricks -- they are such smart dogs! There's Coco, a very comic clown, and The Electrifying Elayne, who performs archery and contortions at the same time. And an acrobatic team called Duo Voltart. The circus is one of the favorite attractions and it's because the president of The Big E, Wayne McCary, spends the winter assembling these acts from all over Europe and brings them here for The Big E.

Well, got to sign off. More, later . . .

Big E Marketing Intern, Jon, has left for his Junior year abroad. This is his final Big E Blog.

Looking Back
It seems so distant, almost ethereal the first Monday that I came in here. I was so nervous. This was my first internship ever. My first experience with an office environment. My only expectations were based on the show "The Office," which, for better or worse, we at Eastern States Exposition do not feature a Michael Scott, nor do we have a Dwight. Nobody has ever set the office on fire in an attempt to teach us office safety, there is no diversity training, no party planning committee.
But I think what I found here was more concrete, definitely more realistic, and better for me. I found a group of people sincerely dedicated to not only their own individual careers and occupations, but to the corporation as a whole. This isn’t like a huge corporation where we are “cogs in a machine,” but rather pieces of a puzzle. Things don’t look quite right unless we all fit together, unless we all coalesce into a team. Without us, The Big E would not happen. Here, we are important in a way that would not be the case in some other larger company. Here, we are not insignificant, but know the president of the corporation on a first name basis.
The Eastern States Exposition brings me to a time when good old traditions were honored. There is an aura of comfortableness, of harmony. Whether it was walking through an empty Storrowton Village Green during mid July during my lunch break or down Commonwealth Ave. full of fairgoers, trying to dodge the crowd, there was some sort of belonging, or rather of acknowledgement of where we, as people, America and New England, have come.
The times like the ones that I had here, at Eastern States Exposition, are ones that can take me wherever I want to go. They represent a solid foundation on which to build my dreams. The lessons and friendships that I have here will accompany me wherever I shall go.
I am forever indebted to Eastern States Exposition for the kind of opportunities it gave me. Thank you.