Gilford's Fall Turn: The Craft Fair, the Trails, and a Mountain That Never Slows Down

Labor Day weekend at Gunstock Mountain Resort looked like the last gasp of summer. Vendor tents lined the base area for the annual craft fair, dogs on leashes wound between booths, and roughly 12,000 people showed up over two days to browse work from about 125 exhibitors. It looked like an ending. It wasn't one.

Ask anyone who has lived in Gilford through a few Septembers and they will tell you the same thing: the town doesn't quiet down after this weekend, it just changes what it's doing. The lake traffic thins out, the trailheads fill in, and up on the mountain itself, the actual work of the year is only getting started.

The Craft Fair Is the Hinge, Not the Finish Line

The Labor Day Weekend Craft Fair ran Saturday and Sunday, September 5 and 6, at Gunstock Mountain Resort, free admission, free parking, dog-friendly, rain or shine. It's the kind of event that draws people from well outside Gilford, which is part of why it functions as a real seasonal marker here. Once the last exhibitor packed up Sunday evening, the resort's public-facing summer programming wound down and a different kind of activity took over, one most visitors never see.

That's worth noting, because it helps explain the shift.

The Off-Season Is When the Mountain Actually Gets Busy

Most people assume a ski resort goes dormant between seasons. Gunstock's own numbers say otherwise. Coming off what staff described as a record-breaking winter, the resort is in the middle of a two-year, $9 million improvement plan introduced in 2025, with $4.5 million of that being reinvested this single offseason. Work began the day the lifts stopped turning on April 4 and has continued through the summer and into fall.

The breakdown gives a sense of scale. About $1.4 million is going toward snowmaking systems, including roughly 5,000 feet of new pipe and a split between the upper and lower mountain systems. Just over $2 million is earmarked for chairlifts, with the Panorama lift, the one that carries guests to the summit, getting a new drive system, new chair spacing, and an all-new control system. The Tiger chair is getting a new haul rope, and the Pistol chair is finishing a gearbox rebuild with new grips. The remaining $1.1 million covers equipment and general facility upgrades.

Here's the part that matters if you live nearby: the Belknap Range Trail, the long ridgeline route that connects Mount Rowe, Gunstock Mountain, Belknap Mountain, Mount Klem, Mount Mack, Mount Anna, Straightback Mountain, and Mount Major, runs directly over Gunstock's own summit. If you're out on that stretch of trail this fall and hear equipment or see crews near the top, that's not a project falling behind. That's $9 million of infrastructure work happening in the exact months when the resort looks, from the road, like it's asleep.

Two Very Different Ways to Hike the Same Range This Fall

If through-hiking the full ridge isn't your speed, Gilford has a second, gentler option that has nothing to do with the resort at all.

The Gilford Parks and Recreation Department runs a Tuesday fall hiking series each year for any adult who wants to get outside. Last year's series kicked off at Ramblin Vewe Farm in mid-September and rotated weekly through October, with the specific destination decided based on trail and weather conditions that week. Hikers meet at Gilford Town Hall at 9:30 a.m. and need to RSVP at least a day ahead so the department knows how many to expect. It's a low-key, organized way to see parts of town you might not stumble onto walking your own dog.

For anyone who'd rather go on their own schedule, the Belknap Range's individual trailheads offer real variety within a small footprint:

• Belknap Mountain Trail climbs to a summit fire tower with panoramic views of Lake Winnipesaukee and the surrounding hills, a moderate climb that rewards the effort.
• Piper Mountain Trail is quieter, with rocky ledges and forest paths leading to a calmer summit experience.
• Round Pond Trail is the easy option, a gentler walk through the woods ending at a small pond.
• Lockes Hill has its own dedicated trailhead parking and is one of the more dog-friendly routes in town.

All three main trailheads, Belknap Mountain, Piper Mountain, and Lockes Hill, have dedicated parking lots that fill quickly on weekends, so early starts pay off, especially once foliage peaks.

Where Gilford Actually Eats After a Hike

A morning on the range or an afternoon at the craft fair tends to end the same way: somewhere with a table and a menu. Gilford's dining scene isn't large, but it has a few names that keep showing up in the same breath.

Patrick's Pub & Eatery has built a reputation as the kind of place with something happening most nights, casual and reliably busy. The Breeze, on Dock Road, leans into its lakeside setting with a menu built around sandwiches and views, the kind of spot where the bar fills with regulars on a weekday afternoon. Ellacoya Barn and Grille sits near Ellacoya State Park on the lake, a natural stop if your day already has you near the water. And for something simpler, the Gilford Village Store handles the deli-sandwich, fresh-baked-goods end of things, useful for grabbing lunch before a hike rather than after one.

None of these are secret. What's useful is knowing which one matches the day you're having, a quick sandwich before Piper Mountain, a sit-down dinner after the craft fair, a lakeside table if the point of the day was always the water.

What This Season Actually Tells You

The thread running through all of this is the same one: Gilford in September and October isn't a town winding down, it's a town mid-transition, with the visible parts, the craft fair, the trailhead parking lots, the pub on a Friday night, sitting right on top of less visible ones, like a mountain resort spending half its two-year improvement budget in a single offseason so the lifts run right come December.

That's the version of fall here that doesn't show up in a generic seasonal roundup. The craft fair isn't summer's last stand, it's the handoff. The quiet you might notice at the base lodge this October isn't the resort resting, it's $4.5 million of work happening where guests don't usually look. And the same ridgeline that gives Gilford Parks and Recreation somewhere new to hike each Tuesday also carries hikers directly over a construction zone most of them will never notice from the trail.

If you already call Gilford home, none of this changes your plans for the next few weekends. It just means you're seeing the full picture instead of half of it.

If you're weighing whether a town like this, one that stays this active in its supposed off-season, might be the right fit for your next move, Prestige Properties is always happy to talk through what living here actually looks like, month by month. Work With Us whenever you're ready.