
6 Quirkiest New Hampshire Towns To Visit In 2025
New Hampshire is the 10th-smallest state by population and fifth-smallest by area. Knowing those specs, you probably do not consider the Granite State a hub of anything, let alone quirkiness. But a trip through its small, far-out towns will change that perspective. This is especially true in 2025. As the year starts its downswing, get uplifted by a hot sauce fest in July, a UFO fair in August, highland games in September, and other 2025-enhanced oddities. Here are the six quirkiest New Hampshire towns to visit in 2025 — towns where you'll find all of the above, and more.
Hampton

As one of the busiest beach towns in New England, Hampton is awash with annual events, many of which are quite quirky. Chief among them is the Hampton Beach Master Sand Sculpting Classic, which involves 200 tons of sand being masterfully sculpted into elaborate figures. That extravasandsa already happened in June, so you can mark it on next year's calendar while drowning your FOMO in hot sauce. On July 26, Hampton is to host the fourth edition of the New England Hot Sauce Fest, where spicephiles sample a wide range of northeastern hot sauces and compete in eating contests for hot wings and hot peppers. This year's sponsor of the pepper-eating contest is Ed Currie, creator of the Carolina Reaper and Pepper X. If spicephobic, wait till September for the Hampton Beach Seafood Festival, a highly attended, long-running "shell-abration." It too has an eating contest, but for lobster rolls. 2024's winner downed 12 rolls in 10 minutes.
Lincoln

Sitting far from the coast and equally far from normal, Lincoln is a mountain town swarming with bears, barbarians, and alleged aliens. The bears are black bears who live at Clark's Bears, a roadside attraction that has been startling tourists for almost a century. But those ice cream-eating bruins are not the most shocking parts of Clark's. That distinction goes to the Wolfman, a loud, hairy, fur-clad barbarian paid by Clark's to scare passengers on its "scenic" train. Other wild men invade Loon Mountain each September for the New Hampshire Highland Games & Festival. While driving to the fest, do not stop for any strange lights in the night sky. Lincoln is close to the site of New England's most famous alleged alien abduction, which is commemorated with the Betty and Barney Hill Incident Marker on Route 3.
Winchester

Winchester is a town of about 4,100 people in the Monadnock Region. "Monadnock" means a tall landform in an otherwise flat area, which is exemplified by Mount Monadnock, the 3,000ish-foot wonder in the region that bears its name. Winchester thus occupies one of New Hampshire's quirkiest regions and pairs it with one of New Hampshire's quirkiest events. For 26 years, the Winchester New Hampshire Pickle Festival has gotten locals absolutely pickled. If you are wondering what pickles have to do with the Monadnock Region, there is no good answer. Rather, the festival's founder was an eccentric who noted other towns' festival mascots (Keene's pumpkin, Harrisville’s zucchini, etc.) and chose the pickle. But if Winchester was not pickle-obsessed before, it certainly is on the fourth Saturday of September. Falling on September 27 in 2025, PickleFest is expected to feature a pickle canning contest, pickle eating contest, and lots of free pickles.
Laconia

Though home to only about 17,000 people, Laconia is classified as a city and is the 15th-largest New Hampshire community per the 2020 Census. As such, it has more unique annual events than most New Hampshire locales. Laconia Motorcycle Week runs in June, the Laconia Multicultural & Folk Festival runs in September, and the Laconia Pumpkin Festival runs in October. However, since Motorcycle Week has already passed, the Folk Fest has been postponed to 2026, and the Pumpkin Festival is redundant if you already chose to attend Keene's, your best bet is the Fantastic Forage Mushroom Festival. Set to have its 10th edition on September 27 and 28, this festival celebrates shrooms in virtually all forms. Attendees can forage for mushrooms, eat mushrooms, drink mushrooms, buy mushroom-themed gifts, and learn about mushrooms via presentations on everything from cooking to cultivating to medicinal microdosing. If you do go, the festival website stresses that visitors should not eat "any mushrooms that have not been positively identified as safe for consumption."
Colebrook

A truly remote town in the Great North Woods Region, Colebrook straddles the Connecticut River on the Vermont border, which means it is sandwiched by two states worth of wilderness (with Canada not far away). Nearby preserves include the Beaver Brook Falls Wayside, Silvio O. Conte National Fish and Wildlife Refuge, and Dixville Notch State Park. With so much neighboring nature, Colebrook's main festival may not seem too strange. But wait till you get a load of its activities. Each August, the North Country Moose Festival trots into town for two days of quirkiness befitting its titular animal. There is a moose calling contest, where humans compete with their best moose impression, and cow plop bingo, where a cow defecates on a giant bingo grid. For a chance at seeing a real moose during the North Country Moose Festival, visit aforementioned Dixville Notch State Park. Though small, the park contains a moose viewing platform at a salt lick.
Exeter

Lincoln is not the only New Hampshire town with deep alien lore. In 1965, an Exeter teenager was hitchhiking home from a nearby town when he saw an unexplained flying object. It scared him so much that he alerted police, who drove to the site and saw what the teenager saw. They escalated the issue to authorities all the way up to the Pentagon. Though the Pentagon dismissed it, the "Exeter Incident" had already received enough governmental interest to become one of the most credible UFO sightings. While there is no guarantee you will see a flying saucer when you visit Exeter, you can see alien costumes, make alien crafts, take UFO site tours, and attend UFOlogist lectures during the Exeter UFO Festival. Set for Labor Day Weekend, 2025's edition is to be even spacier as the 60th anniversary of the Exeter Incident. Make sure to grab a souvenir at Trends Gift Gallery.
Though New Hampshire is not often considered a vacation destination, that should change if you add "quirkiness" and "2025" as requirements. Scheduled for the rest of the year are quirky events in New Hampshire towns, ranging from the New England Hot Sauce Fest in Hampton to the Fantastic Forage Mushroom Festival in Laconia to the North Country Moose Festival in Colebrook. Let the Afterthought State make strange new thoughts with strange 2025 attractions.