Stories, tips, and news about fairs, festivals, and community events.
A porchfest is a free, one-day music festival where the stages are people's front porches — no gate, no ticket, no fenced venue. Here is how the format works, what to bring, where the idea came from, and every porchfest still ahead on our Massachusetts calendar this season.
September is the busiest month of the New England fair season, and Connecticut and Massachusetts carry most of it. Every fair and festival of the month sorted by weekend, with the two weekends still ahead marked — the Big E, Old Deerfield, Durham and more.
The Granite State Fair, formerly the Rochester Fair, runs across two separate September weekends in 2026 — September 17-20 and September 24-27 — with the grounds closed in between. Here's what's on, and why the split schedule catches people out.
The Topsfield Fair runs eleven days from October 2 to 12, 2026, on Boston Street in Topsfield. Run by the Essex Agricultural Society since its first cattle show in 1820, it's home to the All New England Giant Pumpkin Weigh-Off — where the world's first one-ton pumpkin was weighed in 2012.
Salem spends all of October as Halloween's unofficial capital. Haunted Happenings 2026 runs October 1-31, anchored at Salem Common, with the Grand Parade on Friday, October 2. Here's how to plan a visit — and what you'll want to confirm with the organizers before you go.
Cape Cod's Barnstable County Fair returns July 20–26, 2026 to the Cape Cod Fairgrounds in East Falmouth — seven days of rides, fair food, livestock, a demolition derby, and nightly main-stage concerts.
The 68th Mystic Outdoor Art Festival fills downtown Mystic, CT with around 270 juried artists and more than a mile of original art on August 8–9, 2026. Admission is free.
The 158th Cummington Fair returns August 27–30, 2026 to the Cummington Fairgrounds in the western Massachusetts hilltowns — four days of livestock, horse and ox draws, a midway, live music, and country-fair tradition.
A date-by-date guide to every 2026 gun show in Maine — from the PCCA Bangor and Houlton shows to Augusta, Topsham, Biddeford, and Caribou — with venues, admission prices, and tips for buyers, sellers, and collectors.
