Sometime in the first week of November, the Lakes Region stops being a resort and returns to being just home. The firepits get lit. The patio furniture gets stacked against a wall. Nobody is asking you where to see the lake at its best, from the best angle, at the best hour; even though with the leaves on the ground, there are views that only exist for the next few months. What’s left is the place itself, and a calendar that serves whomever is around to enjoy it.
That calendar runs on folding tables. A craft fair in a community center. A library room with the good chairs pulled out. A 5K that starts at the railroad depot and asks you to bring a canned good. A town opening its doors on a Saturday morning to see who shows up.
Here’s a selection from the month. A few of these sit at the edge of the region, because I draw the borders generously. As always, let me know what I’ve missed by leaving a comment!
Before the list: Tuesday, November 3 is Election Day. Go Vote, it’s important. In most towns, you’ll vote at the local school or town hall. Your town clerk can confirm your polling place, and the state’s elections page is at sos.nh.gov/elections.
Fairs & Festivals
Lakes Region Holiday Craft Fair, Tanger Outlets, Tilton. Saturday, October 31 and Sunday, November 1, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The month starts before the calendar says it does. It overlaps with Halloween, so you can buy a an early handmade holiday gift and a last minute addition to your costume in one trip.
Bring A Friend, Settlers Green, North Conway. November 6 to 11, with the big day on Saturday, November 7, when stores run 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. with entertainment throughout. Not a folding table, but a regional tradition that began in 2001 as a one-day sale and now stretches most of a week around Veterans Day.
Little Pines Market Fall/Winter Kids Consignment Sale, Geneva Point Center, Moultonborough. November 6 to 8. , 11 am - 1 pm. Secondhand kids’ clothing, toys, baby gear, and winter essentials. A civilized answer to the snowsuit that fit in October.
Community Holiday Craft Fair, Meredith Community Center, Meredith. Saturday, November 21, 9 to 2, free. Meredith Parks and Recreation runs it, and this is the 15th year. Last year’s tables held soaps, birdhouses, ornaments, pottery, and quilts.
Christmas at the Castle, Castle in the Clouds, Moultonborough. Saturdays and Sundays, November 21 through December 6, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The mansion gets dressed by local businesses, there are holiday activities, and the Carriage House Restaurant adds a holiday lunch. Tickets are bought in advance and work on any of the days. The Preview Party on Friday, November 20, 4 to 7 p.m., gets you into Lucknow Mansion a night early, with cocktails, hors d’oeuvres, carolers, and an artisan fair in the Carriage House. Twilight Tours are back, and last year’s sold out, so I wouldn’t wait.
I’ll be at a market in South Berwick, Maine on Saturday, December 5, with Jill, selling Lakes & Peaks gifts. If you know of a market where Lakes & Peaks belongs, leave a comment or hit reply and tell me.
An Educational Webinar
Moving Makes Sense. When the Numbers Do., online. Monday, November 9, 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. A free webinar with Cynthia Veroneau of New American Funding. We’ll look at what seller concessions, rate buydowns, home equity, and negotiation actually do to the math when you’re deciding whether to move. Forty-five minutes of presentation, then live questions. Bring the one you’ve been turning over. Register here.
Parades & Holiday Kickoffs
All of these cluster around Thanksgiving, which is Thursday, November 26. These can shift with weather, so check online before you head out.
Christmas in Wolfeboro, Main Street, Wolfeboro. Saturday, November 28. Last year’s version had a toy collection by the old railroad station for the Wolfeboro Children’s Christmas Fund, a 3 p.m. parade from Brewster Academy to Mill Street, the community tree lighting, and carols at First Congregational Church. Santa’s Hut stays open through Christmas Eve.
Littleton Christmas Parade, Main Street, Littleton. Friday, November 27, at noon. . It’s the Friday after Thanksgiving, in case your family needs a reason to leave the house.
Celebrate Laconia Lights Festival, downtown Laconia. Saturday, November 28. ] Last year opened with the Santa Shuffle 5K, then food trucks on Canal Street, decorated trees in the parks, and a parade in the late afternoon.
Gift of Lights, New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Loudon. Opens Thanksgiving Day and runs weekends through January 3, 2027. A 2.5-mile drive through millions of lights on the same track where cars usually go much faster. On December 13th there’s a Yule Light Up the Night Run/Walk at dusk.
Stage, Gallery & Music
Legends Revisited: A Tribute to the Traveling Wilburys, Rochester Opera House, Rochester. Saturday, November 7, 7:30 p.m. A little south of the lakes, but worth the drive if you like your harmonies with a wink.
Geoff Tate’s Operation: Mindcrime, The Colonial Theatre, Laconia. Wednesday, November 11, 7:30 p.m. Not really my go to genre, but I’ve promised my 18 year old we’ll go. Wanna join?
Tusk: The Classic Fleetwood Mac Tribute, The Colonial Theatre, Laconia. Saturday, November 14.
The Slambovian Circus of Dreams, The Flying Monkey, Plymouth. Saturday, November 14. Same night as Tusk in Laconia, which makes November 14 a decision.
Riverside Gallery, The Belknap Mill, Laconia. A rotating monthly exhibit of local artists, free and open during regular business hours. Free First Friday, with free museum admission, falls on November 6.
Live piano, Fratello’s Italian Grille, Laconia. Nightly, with a vocalist on Fridays.
Live piano, The Loft at Hermit Woods, Meredith. Friday and Saturday evenings.
Fundraisers & Community Good
34th Annual Turkey Trot, Railroad Depot, Wolfeboro. Saturday, November 21. A 2K kids’ run, a 5K walk, and a 5K run, all starting and ending downtown. Wolfeboro Parks and Rec and the Lions Club put it on, and proceeds go to the Gift of Sight and Hearing Fund to help local families through the winter. Bring a canned good for the food pantry. Register here. It’s the same morning as the Meredith craft fair, so run first, shop second.
Santa Shuffle 5K, downtown Laconia. Saturday, November 28, at 9 a.m. It kicks off the Lights Festival, costumes are encouraged, and proceeds go to the Greater Lakes Region Children’s Auction.
On the Water & Out on the Land
Live Animal Trail, Squam Lakes Natural Science Center, Holderness. Open through Sunday, November 1, 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., last trail admission at 3:30. The pontoon cruises wrapped in October, so this is the last call.
Squam Lakes Association, Holderness. Saturday, November 7, 3 to 5 p.m. A hands-on program for children under 8. A good reason to be outside while the light is still decent.
Ski season is warming up its snow guns. Projections for the first day on the hill run from mid-November at Bretton Woods and Loon, to the end of the month at Cannon and Waterville Valley, to around December 4 at Gunstock and Cranmore. These are guesses until the cold actually arrives, so check each mountain’s snow report before you plan around one.
Hidden Mountains, Conway Public Library, Conway. Thursday, November 12, 6 to 7 p.m. A local author on survival and reckoning after a climb gone wrong. A good one for people who like their reading with some weather in it, and what New Englander doesn’t?
Markets & Makers
Fiber Arts Group, The Belknap Mill, Laconia. Tuesdays, 10 a.m. to noon.] Free. Bring whatever you’re working on: knitting, crochet, sewing, embroidery, spinning. I’m biased toward any room full of people holding yarn.
Tamworth Farmers’ Market, Tamworth. Saturdays, 10 a.m. to noon, through March. at 84R Main Street, in Tamworth. There was a woman there two weekend ago offering hot lemonade…give it a try, it was delicious. SNAP/EBT accepted.
Wolfeboro Area Farmers Market, Indoors at Abenaki Ski Lodge, Wolfeboro. Thursdays, 2 to 4:30 p.m.. Note they take a break for Thanksgiving.
Anytime in November
Clocks fall back an hour on Sunday, November 1, and the light goes early enough to catch you off guard in a parking lot. That’s also the best argument for a walk in the afternoon.
The Meredith Sculpture Walk, Meredith village. A juried show of thirty-plus sculptures along the village, open whenever you are. A good walk for a day when nothing is scheduled, which in November is most days.
I like this version of the region just as much as I like the July version, and not only because the parking improves. Summer stretches everything thin. I spend it juggling, and the threads I care about most get pulled the tightest: my kids, my book club, the knitting circle, the writers group. Those are the people who make this a year-round life instead of a vacation I happen to live inside. October and November are when I reset and recommit, and show up to the same chairs on the same nights.
It’s also when the work part of my year gets more fun. I drop off thank-yous to past clients, which is about the only time I find people are excited to get a knock on the door they weren’t expecting these days. I stand behind a table at winter markets with my sister Jill, who is also my partner in Lakes & Peaks Provisions Co. If we’re lucky, my niece E., now 3, joins to keep us all entertained for an hour or so. I answer questions, AMA peanuts style, at breweries and coffee shops, and give talks in library rooms around the region. None of it requires a pitch. Most of it requires a folding table.
Here’s to the folding tables, and to whoever set them up.
🧭 Jenn
Keys to the Lakes
