Since 2016, the West Springfield Tartan has represented the town’s enduring Irish population. Given the pattern’s decade anniversary, the team at Eastern States Exposition (ESE) announces five new products and is now available at Cooper’s Gifts, Apparel, Home in Agawam, Mass.
This tartan pattern started as all those in the region do: in the hands of West Springfield resident, Irishman and tartan extraordinaire, Gerry Healy. He and the team at ESE carefully selected its blue, purple, yellow, green and red in a nod to the West Springfield community and the flags of the six New England states represented on the ESE fairgrounds. The textile was then developed in Scotland through the Scottish Register of Tartans (certificate #11459), and a swatch is archived there for permanent preservation in the country’s national records.
The product line is expansive and includes items such as scarves, neckties, socks, rosettes, reusable pocket bags, knit hats and cozy gloves. In celebration of the pattern’s 10-year anniversary, five new items were recently debuted: dog bandanas, satin-lined pocket squares, headbands, clip-on hair bows and a bear with an embroidered shamrock on its middle.
West Springfield Tartan is available for purchase online at EasternStatesExposition.com, in the Eastern States Farmers Market and—for the first time ever—at Cooper’s Gifts.
“It is such an honor to get to carry so many local tartan designs,” said Kate Gourde, shopkeeper at Cooper’s Gifts. “We are pleased to be able to make it convenient for our customers—who visit from West Springfield, Holyoke, Chicopee and more—to attain their town’s tartan and rock their Irish pride—and fashionably, too!”
You can also find retail pop-ups featuring the West Side Tartan at various cultural events throughout “green season.” See their schedule below or online at EasternStatesExposition.com.
- Irish Cultural Center St. Paddy’s Party at the ICC on Tuesday, March 17 at 2-7pm
- Holyoke St. Patrick’s Road Race’s at the Hampden St. Expo Area on Saturday, March 21 at 9am
With more designs than ever, there are plenty of ways to tote your Irish heritage throughout Western Mass.’s St. Paddy’s Day festivities. Get yours today!