If you went to Hooksett Old Home Day a decade ago and haven't been back, you remember a parade down Merrimack Street, a field full of vendor tents behind Town Hall, and fireworks after dark. That version still happens every year on the third Saturday of September. This year it lands on Saturday, September 19, 2026, at Donati Park behind Town Hall on Main Street.

What's changed is that a second, quieter event now runs alongside it. Somewhere between the bounce houses and the food trucks, Old Home Day picked up a heritage-tour track and a books-and-authors track, and most people who show up for the fireworks never notice either one. That's the split worth understanding before you go.

The Half You Already Know

The core of the day hasn't moved much in years, and that's by design. It's built around the same handful of elements that have anchored it for a while now.

The familiar lineup:

• A parade that in past years has started on Merrimack Street and ended at the Donati playground
• Local vendors and craft and retail tables set up in the field behind Town Hall
• A car show open to classic and contemporary vehicles, with entries coordinated through the Old Home Day committee
• Bounce houses and family amusements running through the afternoon
• Fireworks at dusk to close things out

The fireworks specifically have gotten more ambitious than a lot of longtime attendees realize. In 2024, the show was handled by JPI Pyrotechnics, a company owned by Hooksett residents Rob and Sandy Jacobs. They didn't just supply a standard display. They donated an additional $26,000 on top of the town's budget and built a Halloween-themed pyromusical, timing the shells to music through a full PA setup at Donati Field. They also committed to a three-year partnership starting that year, which puts 2026 squarely inside that window. If the pattern holds, this year's show is being run by a local company that has already proven it wants to outdo itself in its own backyard.

The Half That's Newer Than You Think

The part of Old Home Day that's easy to miss entirely is the heritage programming, and it's grown fast. The 2026 event includes the third annual Heritage Trolley Tour and the second annual Authors' Alley, both additions from the last few years.

The Heritage Trolley Tour begins and ends at Hooksett Town Hall on Main Street and is put together with the Hooksett Historical Society, the group working to preserve Robie's Country Store, the Hooksett Heritage Commission, and the Congregational Church of Hooksett. It's a guided ride through the town's history rather than another vendor booth, and it's the kind of programming that only exists because a handful of local organizations decided the fair needed a history component and built it themselves.

Authors' Alley is smaller in scope but tells the same story. It's a corner of the event set aside for authors from around New England to show their books and talk about their work, and 2026 marks its second year running. Neither of these existed when the event was just a parade and a carnival. Both exist now because Old Home Day's organizers have been quietly expanding what the day is for, not just how big it is.

How to Actually Get There

Getting to Donati Park on the day itself is straightforward if you plan around parking, since the field behind Town Hall fills up fast.

1. Head for Donati Park behind Hooksett Town Hall at 35 Main Street. Coming from Route 3/28, bear left at the blinking light onto Main Street and the park entrance is about a quarter mile up on the left.
2. If you're not parking on site, the event has historically arranged remote parking with shuttle service running in two windows, roughly 7 a.m. to noon and noon to 6 p.m., so plan your arrival around one of those blocks.
3. Handicap parking is available in front of and behind Town Hall, and golf carts are on hand at Town Hall to help patrons reach the fairgrounds if walking the distance is a concern.
4. If you want to catch the Heritage Trolley Tour, plan to be at Town Hall at the start of the day, since it departs from there and runs as its own scheduled loop separate from general parking shuttles.

Parking specifics for this exact year are usually posted closer to the date on the event's official site, so it's worth a check in early September before you drive over.

Fuel Up Before You Go

Old Home Day runs most of the day, and the food on site is mostly fair fare. If you want a real meal before or after, Hooksett has more options within a few minutes of Town Hall than it did five years ago.

• The Spot Eatery is Hooksett's newest breakfast-and-lunch spot, built around coffee, fresh salads, and smoothies made to order.
• Second Brook Bar & Grill, opened by Thomas and Jeanne Foote, brings more than 25 years of combined restaurant experience to a stretch of road straddling southern Hooksett and northern Manchester.
• Granite Tapas & Cocktail Lounge is a sit-down option if you want something slower-paced than a fair food line.
• Brick House Restaurant on Hooksett Road has been a seasonal family favorite for more than 50 years, open for the season through late September with outdoor patio seating.
• Supreme Pizza has been serving the town since 1984 and is a reliable, no-fuss stop for a slice or a sub on your way to or from the park.

None of these require a reservation for a family stopping in around a festival day, and all are a short drive from Main Street.

Both Halves, One Afternoon

The reason Old Home Day is worth a second look this year isn't that it got bigger. It's that it got more layered. The parade, the car show, and the fireworks are still exactly what long-time residents expect, run by people who clearly still care about making them good, JPI's multi-year fireworks commitment being the clearest evidence of that. But the trolley tour and Authors' Alley are a different kind of addition, built by local historical and civic groups who wanted the day to say something about the town itself, not just entertain it for an afternoon.

If your last Old Home Day memory is from before 2023, you've genuinely missed a piece of it. Worth changing that this September.

Michelle Gannon has lived and worked in Hooksett for years, and town days like this one are part of what she means when she talks about knowing a place beyond its listings. If you're weighing a move in Hooksett, Bedford, Manchester, or anywhere else in the Southern New Hampshire towns she covers, contact Michelle to discuss your next move.