On the last Saturday of October, the three-quarter-mile packed-gravel path that winds past the black bears, bobcats, mountain lions, river otters and raptors at the Squam Lakes Natural Science Center takes on a different character. Costumed children replace the usual hiking boots. Pumpkins appear in the enclosures.
Howl-O-Ween, the science center's family Halloween event, runs on October 24, 2026, at 23 Science Center Road in Holderness, New Hampshire. Families are invited to walk the Live Animal Exhibit Trail to watch the resident animals receive pumpkin-themed enrichment — Woodstock, one of the center's red foxes, has been photographed enjoying a pumpkin treat for the event.
The pumpkin enrichment is the part that reliably draws a crowd, and it is not simply decoration. The science center's resident animals are selected for being native to New Hampshire, and most are orphans, injured, or otherwise unable to survive in the wild. At the center they live in naturalistic habitats and serve as ambassadors for their species — the animals visitors meet are the ones who teach them what a bobcat or a bear actually needs. Enrichment, whether a pumpkin stuffed with food or a novel scent, is a standard part of caring for animals in captivity: it gives them something to investigate, puzzle over and tear apart, which is roughly what a wild animal's day is made of. At Howl-O-Ween, the public gets to watch that work happen.
The pairing of Halloween with the center's animals is a natural fit for a place like this. It is a gentler kind of spooky than a haunted house: the thrill comes from meeting a real fox rather than a costumed one.
That the science center is marking Halloween at all is a reminder of how long it has been part of the Lakes Region. The center was founded in 1966, and it is celebrating its 60th anniversary in 2026, a milestone it has marked with a year of special programming, including a sold-out fundraising Barn Bash and a month-long BioBlitz in August that logged 1,305 observations representing 518 species across the campus. It now sits on more than 200 acres of fields, forests, streams, ponds and gardens between Little Squam and Big Squam — a 410-acre lake and a 6,381-acre one, respectively.
The trail itself is designed to be walked by almost anyone. It is stroller-accessible, built to an ADA recreational grade of 1 in 12, with some difficult spots due to loose gravel; four-wheeled motorized scooters are available on request. The center is also a Certified Sensory Inclusive facility through KultureCity, a designation that matters on a day when costumes, crowds and the general excitement of Halloween can overwhelm younger visitors. A veterinarian checks out all of the science center's animals, and staff are trained to recognize when something is wrong and will call in a vet when necessary.
For families in the Lakes Region, Howl-O-Ween has become a way to stretch the season past the leaf-peeping rush. The center's public trails are open daily from May 1 through November 1, so late October is the tail end of the outdoor year. The event lands on a Saturday, which means the trail will be busy; arriving earlier in the day leaves more time before the day's end — the kind of low-stakes outing that works for a family with a four-year-old in a ladybug costume and a grandparent along for the walk.
What the day offers, in the end, is a small correction to the usual Halloween script. Instead of ghosts and goblins, there are real animals. Instead of candy as the only reward, there is a pumpkin being demolished by a red fox somewhere along the path. The science center's animals have spent their lives teaching visitors about the state's natural world; on October 24, they get to do it in costume-adjacent circumstances, with a squash.