Squam Fest

Squam Lake occupies a particular position in the New Hampshire lake pantheon: smaller than Winnipesaukee at about 6,800 acres but considerably less trafficked, its surface clarity and the wooded shoreline that surrounds it on nearly every side have given it a reputation for genuine quiet in a region where quiet is both rare and commercially valued. The film “On Golden Pond” was shot on Squam Lake in 1981, a fact that the surrounding communities mention with pride and occasionally overwork, but that reflects something true about the lake’s character: it has a beauty that has historically been difficult to reproduce in any other location because the combination of mountain frame, island texture, and water clarity constitutes a specific visual argument that holds up under close examination. Squam Fest at Cottage Place runs from May 2 through October 19, 2026, at Cottage Place on Squam Lake in Holderness, converting that lakeside property into a periodic market and community gathering space through the season.

The programming across the Squam Fest season includes live local music performances, food trucks offering regional fare, and artisan markets with handcrafted goods from vendors who reflect the Lakes Region’s creative community rather than a generic craft market import. The setting at Cottage Place on Squam Lake puts the market within the lake’s visual frame, which means the experience of moving between vendor booths includes the lake itself as a persistent background element rather than an incidental detail. Weekend admission is $5 for the full event; children under 12 enter free.

The Lake Around the Market

For visitors attending Squam Fest who want to extend their time on the water, the Science Center of New Hampshire, located on Route 113 in Holderness adjacent to the Squam Lake shoreline, operates a boat tour program on Squam Lake that runs through the summer season and is particularly well designed for families interested in the lake’s loon population, which has been a subject of sustained scientific attention and public education programs at the Science Center for decades. The Center’s wildlife exhibits include live native animals maintained in natural-habitat enclosures, and the combined boat tour and exhibit program constitutes one of the more substantive half-day experiences in the New Hampshire lake country.

For families who want the Squam Lake experience at a residential rather than event scale, the pet-friendly property with hot tub within walking distance of Squam’s Church Landing on Lake.com provides lake access and the kind of proximity to the festival venue that makes a multi-day Squam Fest visit genuinely practical rather than a logistical exercise.

> Good to Know
> Holderness is accessible from I-93 via Exit 24 (US-3) and is approximately 90 miles north of Boston, making it a practical destination for weekend visitors from the eastern Massachusetts market. The town of Center Sandwich, about 12 miles east of Holderness via Route 113, contains one of the Lakes Region’s better collections of 18th- and 19th-century architecture and the Sandwich Historical Society’s local history museum, worth a 45-minute stop for families interested in the social history of the lake region before settlement was defined by seasonal tourism.

> If You’re Going With Kids
> The Science Center of New Hampshire’s Squam Lake boat tour is specifically calibrated for children ages 5 and older, with naturalist guides whose loon ecology presentations have been refined through decades of public program delivery into something that holds child attention more effectively than most natural history presentations. The loon is New Hampshire’s state bird, a fact that acquires weight when you see one at close range from a boat on Squam Lake in early June.

Find Your Spot on Lake.com

Search Lake.com for vacation rentals near Squam Lake and Lake Winnipesaukee in the Holderness and Center Harbor corridor to compare properties across the full range of the Lakes Region’s spring-to-fall season. The Squam Lake market fills quickly on peak summer weekends; book accommodations four to eight weeks ahead for the best access to properties within walking or biking distance of Cottage Place.