The lake pulls everyone south. Ellacoya State Park, the boat launches, the waterfront decks at Ellacoya Bar & Grill and The Breeze — the gravitational logic of a town on Lake Winnipesaukee is hard to argue with. But Gunstock Mountain Resort sits less than three miles north of the water, and this summer it added something that tips the scale in a way it hasn't before. If your Gilford summer routine ends at the shoreline, you're working with half a map.
That's not a complaint about the lake. It's an observation about what's changed on the mountain — and what's been quietly running the town's social calendar from a farm off Intervale Road all along.
Gunstock Launched a Trail Running Series This Summer — and It's Worth Your Wednesday Night
The new thing is called Run the Mountain. Gunstock built it as a weekly summer 5K trail series, and the structure is borrowed directly from the ski-trail rating system: courses progress from green-circle terrain to black-diamond difficulty as the season advances. You can enter as a points-tracking series competitor in the Trail Cup Division, or show up for a single race in the Open Trail Division with no standings pressure.
What makes this worth flagging for residents specifically is the Canicross Division. On select race weeks, Gunstock opens the course to runners paired with their dogs — runner and dog connected by a hands-free belt and bungee leash, running the same 5K course as everyone else. Gunstock's trails are already dog-friendly for casual hiking, but an organized canicross event is a different thing entirely. It doesn't exist at most New England trail series.
The series is new enough that it hasn't accumulated the word-of-mouth yet. If you've driven past the Gunstock entrance this month assuming the summer crowds are there for the Adventure Park, you may not know this is happening.
The Mountain Beyond the Races
The Adventure Park has been there. The zipline tour, the Aerial Treetop Adventure course, the mountain coaster with its 360-degree loops and rider-controlled braking — those are well-established reasons to spend a few hours up the hill, and they're open Thursday through Sunday starting at 10 a.m. The scenic chairlift to the summit still delivers the view that puts Lake Winnipesaukee and the White Mountains in the same frame.
What's easier to miss: the hiking network. Gunstock's trails ascend Gunstock Mountain, Mount Rowe, and Cobble Mountain, and on a clear day the Presidential Range appears along the northern horizon. The trails are dog-friendly, and there's a three-acre fishing pond on the property that the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department stocks through the summer. This isn't alpine expedition terrain — it's a morning's work, close enough to be practical before noon.
The 260-site campground rounds out the picture for people who want to use Gilford as a base for a longer stretch rather than a day trip.
Beans & Greens Is Running the Town's Summer Calendar Whether You Know It or Not
Drive north on Intervale Road and you'll find Beans & Greens Farm at number 245. Chris Collias and Lindy Consentino took over the farm in April 2021, and they've been building out the events program steadily since. The farmstand and cafe — open Wednesday through Friday 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., Saturday and Sunday 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. — carries the farm's own grass-fed beef, pasture-raised pork and chicken, in-house bakery items, and a deli counter. The gift section runs NH-made honey, maple syrup, and the farm's own line of sauces and dressings.
The events calendar is where the farm has outgrown its farmstand identity. This summer's anchor event:
Sweet Summer Artisan Market & Vendor Fair
- When: Saturday and Sunday, August 8–9, 2026
- Where: Beans & Greens Farm, 245 Intervale Rd, Gilford
- What: Multi-vendor artisan market across the farm grounds
The Mother's Day Market in May drew vendors and shoppers across both weekend days. The August market follows the same format at a point in the season when out-of-town visitors are thick on the ground and local residents often cede the public spaces to them. This one is worth circling on the calendar now.
The fall corn maze is the farm's signature event — one of the more genuinely difficult ones in the state, with night maze sessions on Fridays and Saturdays — but that's months away. The summer offering at Beans & Greens is underused by permanent residents who've stopped thinking of it as a destination once the novelty wore off.
After the Mountain or the Farm: Where the Evening Goes
Axe & Ale Taphouse opened adjacent to Gilford Cinemas 8 with 13 axe-throwing lanes, a 150-seat restaurant, and a full bar with craft beer. The combination is specific enough that it functions as its own category — neither a sports bar nor a conventional restaurant, which means it draws a different crowd than the waterfront spots.
Taste of Legacy Cafe & Catering at 131 Lake Street is the quiet option. Breakfast and lunch, five-star reviews, an inviting atmosphere. If the mountain took your morning and the farm took your afternoon, this is the decompression stop before deciding whether to push toward the water.
The waterfront dining options most residents already know: Ellacoya Bar & Grill with outdoor seating on the lake, and The Breeze in Gilford, operated by the same First Choice Foods group that runs Ellacoya and the Boardwalk Bar & Grill at Weirs Beach. The Breeze has built a following on the water views and an approachable menu, and the Gilford location holds up well against the Meredith renovation that's been getting more attention this summer.
Bank of New Hampshire Pavilion handles the concert schedule for the region and sits close enough to Gilford that it functions as a neighborhood amenity even when the lineup skews toward touring national acts.
The Argument for the Full Map
A town with lake access has an obvious summer identity. Gilford has that. But a town with lake access, a four-season mountain resort with a new trail running series, a working farm running artisan markets through August, an axe-throwing venue, and a beach park managed by the state doesn't fit neatly into one story.
The mistake most residents make isn't that they ignore the lake — it's that they treat the lake as the whole answer and let the mountain and the farm become weekend-trip destinations for other people's guests. The Run the Mountain series, specifically, is a local program designed around a local schedule. It's not built for the July tourist traffic. It's built for someone who lives here and wants a reason to be on the mountain on a weekday evening.
That's worth knowing before the summer fills up.
Mulligan Property Group has been helping buyers and sellers find their place in Gilford and across the Lakes Region for decades. If you're thinking about what a move to — or within — this area actually looks like, schedule a private consultation and let's talk through it.
