A New Englander’s Fall Bucket List: Traditions I Love

If you ask me, there’s no better place to be in the fall than New England. I’m a lifelong New Englander, so I may be biased, but I’ll stand by it. The leaves, the crisp mornings, the farm stands piled with pumpkins, the cider donuts at the orchard. And the best part is you don’t have to go far for any of it. Autumn here is practically right outside your door, whether that’s a back road, a small-town festival, or an orchard a few miles away.

That’s what this list is: the simple traditions I come back to every year, not a to-do list to power through. Most cost next to nothing, and the few that don’t are ones where you decide how much to spend. Pick a couple, skip the rest, and borrow whatever sounds like your kind of fall.

Labor Day Weekend Tradition: Exeter UFO Festival

Technically it’s still summer, but for us this is the start of the season. We head downtown for the Exeter UFO Festival, and it’s a fun afternoon of wandering around town. My favorite part is the costumes. It’s a small-town event with a sense of humor, and that’s my favorite kind.

Even if you skip the alien theme entirely, downtown Exeter on its own is worth the trip. It’s one of those towns that looks like it was built for a Hallmark movie: a center gazebo, cute storefronts, and classic New England old homes and inns lining the streets.

There’s even an Independence Museum with a real Revolutionary War cannon. And the shopping is the kind you can actually spend an afternoon on: an independent bookstore, flower shops, chocolate shops, a vintage store, gift shops, home decor shops, artist shops, and ice cream when you need a break. It’s a small-town event with a sense of humor, set in a town that’s charming with or without the aliens.

A September Beach Day

Summer along New Hampshire’s tiny stretch of coast is gorgeous, but it’s also crowded, and parking is a battle. September is a different story: the crowds thin out, the water is warm by our standards, and the skies turn that deep blue you only really get in early fall.

It’s the best month for actually walking the beach instead of fighting for a spot on it. And if a September storm rolls through, even better, because that’s when I find the best driftwood. If you can only do one thing on this list, make it this.

A Day Trip to Kennebunkport

A short drive north from here and we are over the bridge and in Maine! We drove up to Kennebunkport for the day. We also grabbed a homemade lemonade at Aunt Marie’s and wandered through a mix of shops: tourist spots for sweatshirts, small handcrafted artist stores, clothing, and gifts.

I was eager to pop into Seacraft Vintage, a shop I’d followed on Instagram for years but had never actually been to in person. There’s no shortage of places to eat delicious local seafood either. The line at the Clam Shack is always long, full of people waiting on a lobster roll worth the wait.

If you want a quieter moment, there’s a church perched on the ocean cliffs with free parking and a grassy area, plus an outdoor chapel where you can explore the coastline. Along the ocean drive, you’ll pass spot after spot with benches to pull over and just take it all in. A short drive further brings you to Cape Porpoise, with a lovely water view and fishing boats bobbing in the harbor. It’s about as New England as a day trip gets.

Apple Picking & Cider Donuts

If there’s one truly iconic fall activity in New England, this is it. The region is packed with apple farms, so it’s an easy, close-to-home tradition, and most families make it an annual thing, dragging their little ones out to the orchard every year without fail. We just went apple picking in Maine this year, but locally, we head to Applecrest Farm for the donuts.

And a cider donut is a New England staple in the fall, full stop. You can’t beat a still-warm donut with cinnamon sugar coating the outside. Fresh-pressed cider is just as essential, and it’s a must-have in the fridge all season. I honestly can’t picture Thanksgiving without a jug of it on the counter.

• Yankee Magazine List of Best Apple Orchards
• My Local Orchard(great year-round farm store too)
• Best Cider Donuts (according to my kids)

Local Fairs & Festivals

We also made it to a fall festival this year in Maine. Local festivals are a great way to spend a few hours for very little money.

And it’s not just festivals; New Hampshire’s agricultural fairs are a fall tradition of their own, with animal barns, carnival rides, fair food, and the kind of small-town energy you can’t fake. If you want to build a fall weekend around one, New Hampshire Magazine’s roundup has this year’s dates for fairs, pumpkin festivals, and Oktoberfests across the state.

Every New England state has small fairs and festivals all season long. If there’s one thing New Englanders can agree on is that being outdoors is the place to be in the Fall!

Pumpkins From The Farm

My pumpkins come from my local farm stand, Wake Robin, every year, and I love that buying them there means the money stays close to home instead of going to a big box store. Farm stand pumpkins are one of the most budget-smart ways to decorate for fall, and you’re supporting a local farm while you’re at it, so it’s a win twice over.

There’s also just something about it that feels right. Pumpkins piled on the porch of an old New England home are such a classic look; it’s like the two were made for each other.

Here’s one of my pumpkin-centric front porches decorated with farm pumpkins

Take A Backroad Drive

Every fall, we take a back road drive with no real destination, just a road we feel like following. Some of my favorite moments of the season happen from the passenger seat. It might be because we’re trying to dodge the leaf peeper traffic on the way up to the mountains, but honestly, New England has so many winding, beautiful back roads that it’s a sightseeing trip all on its own.

Drive through pretty much any small New England town, and you’ll come across scenic vistas, historic barns, old train tracks, small ponds ringed in foliage, and my favorite, stone walls creeping alongside the road.

Here are some more well-known fall drives around New England

The Vintage Bazaar New England

The first week of October is the Vintage Bazaar New England. The fall show moves outdoors to a big farm setting, with vendors under tents, food trucks, and live music. Between the truly vintage sellers and the handmade makers, you never know what you’ll come home with. Many vendors return every season, and a few have become friends I look forward to seeing. If you love secondhand finds, here’s how I thrift for a cozy fall.

The Fall 2026 show will be October 3-4 at Crescent Farms in Haverhill, MA.

Girls’ Weekend in Maine

This fall I got away for a girls’ weekend at a friend’s lakehouse in Maine, and it might be my new favorite tradition. We boated, crafted, ate way too much good food, and laughed more than we had in a long time. There’s something about a lake in early fall, quieter than summer, the water still warm enough to be out on, that makes it feel like the best-kept secret of the season

Pick 2, Not 12

That’s my list, but yours doesn’t have to look like it. The whole point is to keep the traditions that make the season feel like yours. And if you want the garden, home, and porch side of fall, my New England Fall Checklist has you covered.

What’s on your must-do list? Tell me in the comments. I’m always looking for a new tradition to steal.

xo, Jennifer