Hanstock, Hancock’s all-day music, food, and craft festival, returns for its eighth year on Saturday, preceded by a special preview concert Friday evening.
The main festival runs from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. at Moose Brook Park, with a $10 donation per person requested. All proceeds benefit the Hancock Depot Association, which maintains the town’s historic 1878 train depot as a community gathering and performance space.
Organizers are kicking off the weekend early with a Friday night preview show at the Depot.
“This year, we’re doing something a little different with our Friday night kickoff show at the Depot,” said David Young, chair of the Hancock Depot Association. “We’re going to give the Dancing Goats a sneak preview Friday night, since they’re coming all the way up here, and we’ll also have Wes Aldrich’s band, Hug the Dog. They’re both really good, and we’re hoping the Friday night show will kind of whet everyone’s appetite for Hanstock.”
Headlining Saturday’s event is the Dancing Goats, a rock/folk/funk group based primarily in New York and New Jersey. The rest of the lineup features regional acts spanning multiple genres.
Young said he tries to get an “eclectic mix of bands” every year.
“We don’t want just one type of music – we don’t want just rock and roll,” he said. “This year, we have rock, we have bluegrass, we have jazz, we have Americana.”
Saturday’s performance schedule includes Keene-based Mr. Bill’s Bluegrass Band; jazz ensemble Brian Quinn Quartet featuring Paul Klemperer; Seacoast bluegrass outfit RockSpring; Young’s classic rock group Eyes of Age; and Go Pony, featuring Ethan O’Brien, formerly of Youngest Sun.
Alongside the music, Hanstock 2026 features 35 local arts, crafts, and farm vendors, as well as a variety of food offerings. Options include Blackfire Farm’s pizza truck, Mamma Maria’s Gyros, snow cones, popcorn, and grilled items prepared by HDA volunteers.
“We try to really integrate the whole community. We are symbiotic with our business sponsors, and we have a lot of really great nonprofit organizations who will be at Hanstock as well,” Young said.
Proceeds from previous festivals directly support maintenance and capital improvements at the venue. Funds raised in 2025 funded significant sound system upgrades, while proceeds from this year’s event are slated to repaint the depot’s exterior in historic Boston & Maine Railroad colors.
“It’s time, and it needs it, and that’s a big job — that’s our big project for the year,” Young said, noting that past volunteer efforts successfully replaced the roof. “Our next project will be refinishing the floors.”
Built in 1878, the depot will be repainted in traditional ochre and red shades matching period depots in neighboring towns like Troy and Contoocook. Rail service through Hancock originally connected south to Greenfield and Keene, and north to Concord via Elmwood Junction, before the Great New England Hurricane of 1938 destroyed key river abutments and ended rail operations in town.
“Back then, you could get on a train right in Hancock and go anywhere – you could go to Boston or New York and anywhere from there. Hancock had much more sophisticated transportation in the 1800s than it does today, ” Young said. “We’re just trying to preserve that history.”
For more information about Hanstock, go to the Hancock Depot Cabaret Facebook page.
