What's Behind the Doors at 23 Bay Street? Makers Mill's First Holiday Market Is One Way In

On Sunday, November 15, from 1 to 4 p.m., Makers Mill in Wolfeboro holds its first Holiday Market & Open House. Admission is free. The nonprofit says registration is appreciated but not required, and it describes the afternoon as a chance to "explore everything happening inside Wolfeboro's nonprofit community makerspace." The Laconia Daily Sun ran the announcement as an event that is free and open to the public.

In the six weeks around the market, Makers Mill runs free tours on three different schedules, a monthly Repair Café, and a fiber arts evening with no class fee. Most of these fit around the rest of Wolfeboro's holiday weekends. The market is the easy first visit, and these programs are the reasons to come back.

Who Is Selling, and Why That Matters

Makers Mill says the market will feature work from its own members and instructors and from participants in its Artists, Growers & Makers Business Lab. The listed categories are jewelry, artwork, leather goods, clothing and fiber arts, stained glass, ornaments, herbal teas and decorated furniture. No vendor list has been published, so the best guide to what you'll find is the building's workshops.

The Business Lab explains why some tables are there. It is a nine-session cohort for product-based creative entrepreneurs that combines business instruction, coaching and peer learning, and it ends with each participant drafting a business roadmap. Standard tuition is $500, and sliding-scale options are available. According to the Laconia Daily Sun, Stina Kindwall facilitates the program, and its curriculum was developed by the Hannah Grimes Center for Entrepreneurship.

Some of the herbal teas and leather goods on the tables may come from people who are building a small business through the Mill. Buying from them supports that work directly.

From Small-Engine Shop to 10,000 Square Feet of Workshops

The building has its own Wolfeboro history. Makers Mill says it bought the former Wolfeboro Power Equipment building at 23 Bay Street in 2017, a property it describes as a small-engine repair shop. The first phase of work focused on code compliance and a certificate of occupancy. The Mill opened to the public in October 2022.

Phase Two came next. When fundraising began, the Laconia Daily Sun described plans for stormwater drainage and parking, upgraded HVAC, better second-floor egress, a new classroom and a digital design and fabrication lab. The Mill held a celebration for the completion of Phase Two of its building and gardens on October 19, 2025. The Mill now describes 10,000 square feet of workspace for digital design and fabrication, fine arts, fiber arts, metalsmithing and jewelry, leatherworking, a metalworking and machine shop, mixed media, stained glass and a woodshop. The workshop directory lists a GlowForge CO₂ laser engraver and a Creality K1 3D printer.

On November 15, demonstrations will run in four of those areas: stained glass, jewelry making, blacksmithing and electronics. The demos show which shops are busy enough to staff on a Sunday afternoon, and each one connects to a class or membership you could try later.

The staff has changed this year too. In June 2026, Executive Director Josh Arnold announced Casey Szmyt as Program Director. Szmyt succeeds Carol Holyoake, who retired from the role. This holiday season's programs are some of the first planned under the new program lead.

The Free Ways Back In

The Mill's recurring programs are what make it more than a one-afternoon stop. Several of them cost nothing:

• Guided tours. Makers Mill runs a free tour every Friday from 10 to 11:30 a.m. through December 18, and asks people to register. The same tour page also lists tours at 10 a.m. on the first Saturday of each month and at 5:30 p.m. on the second and fourth Tuesdays. November's first-Saturday tour falls on November 7, and December's falls on December 5.
• Repair Café. On the last Sunday of each month, volunteers offer free repair help and advice for clothing, electronics, small appliances, bicycles and furniture. The 2026 sessions run 1 to 4 p.m., the same hours as the market. The November session is Sunday, November 29.
• Fiber Arts Mingle & Upcycled Clothing Club. This group meets on the first Tuesday of the month from 6 to 8 p.m. People bring sewing, weaving, embroidery, quilting, knitting, crochet, macramé or basket-weaving projects, and volunteers facilitate. There is no class fee, members and nonmembers are both welcome, and the Mill prefers that you register. The listed series runs through December 1, so the remaining 2026 dates are November 3 and December 1.

If the market is your first visit, one of these is a natural second. The November 29 Repair Café comes two weeks after the market, on the day after the Christmas in Wolfeboro Parade.

Some November classes are paid, and the electronics shop has the most detailed schedule. Prices below come from the Mill's November electronics announcement:

The oscilloscope class ends at 11 a.m. on November 7, an hour after that Saturday's tour starts. Both are in the same building on the same morning. The Arduino series ends four days after the market, where electronics is one of the four demonstrations.

Access works differently for regular users. Under the Mill's membership terms, Maker members can use each shop for two hours a week during Support Hours, and Maker Plus members have workspace access 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Where November 15 Falls in Wolfeboro's Holiday Season

Apart from the indoor farmers market, which has run on Thursdays since October 15, the Mill's market is the earliest holiday event on Wolfeboro's confirmed 2026 calendar. No other event on that calendar is listed for the same weekend. The rest are grouped on November 28 and the first two weekends of December, and the Mill's Repair Café falls the day after the parade.

The parade day starts before the parade. The Wolfeboro Area Chamber of Commerce lists a "Fill A Truck with Toys" collection for the Wolfeboro Children's Christmas Fund from noon to 4 p.m. Bob's Firetruck will be parked at the Chamber office in the former Railroad Station at 32 Central Ave. After the tree lighting, Santa and Mrs. Claus visit at Santa's Hut from 4 to 6 p.m.

The Wolfeboro Festival of Trees is open Saturdays, December 5 and 12, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and Sundays, December 6 and 13, from noon to 3 p.m. More than 100 decorated trees fill two floors of the Wright Museum. The festival also holds an Artisan & Craft Fair on December 5, a Santa and Mrs. Claus visit on December 6 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., and Pizza in the Pines on December 9 from 6 to 8 p.m. Tickets for the $75 Preview Gala go on sale November 1.

The craft events build through the season. The Mill's market comes first on November 15, the student-run KRHS fair follows on November 28, and the Festival of Trees Artisan & Craft Fair is December 5. If you're shopping for handmade gifts, Bay Street is the first stop, and the Mill's maker-run tables are the ones you can visit again on an ordinary Friday morning tour.

Makers Mill bought the former small-engine repair shop at 23 Bay Street in 2017, and this November it holds its first holiday market there. If you're weighing a move to Wolfeboro, or a sale in the area, and want someone who follows the town's calendar as closely as its market, REEN USA is glad to talk it through with you. Let's Connect.