Scenes from the New Hampshire Pumpkin Festival

With more than 20,000 pumpkins, live music, and fair-food favorites, the New Hampshire Pumpkin Festival in Laconia is a top New England fall event.

By Aimee Tucker|Oct 17 2019|

Held in historic downtown Laconia, the annual New Hampshire Pumpkin Festival attracts upward of 40,000 visitors during its two-day run. In addition to the obvious draw (20,000 carved pumpkins clustered around downtown and lined up on a 34-foot tower), offerings include a lively assortment of traditional fair foods, rides, and live music, plus events such as a pumpkin pancake breakfast, pumpkin cook-off, and zombie walk.

The festival began in Keene, New Hampshire, in 1991, where it quickly became one of the most popular seasonal events in New England (making it a shoo-in for our list of “Best Pumpkin Festivals in New England”). It set and broke the Guinness record for the greatest number of lighted jack-o’-lanterns multiple times until the event’s most recent “break,” in 2013; that year’s number of 30,581 still holds. After the 2014 festival, which was marred by disruptive “riots” at nearby Keene State College, the Keene City Council opted to reject the festival’s permit, leading to the move to Laconia. In the years since, the festival has settled into its new home and continues to grow in popularity. Here’s a look at our visit to the 2017 New Hampshire Pumpkin Festival in photos.