Tomorrow morning, a wood-fired sauna will sit on the sand at Nantasket Beach under a license that runs until the end of April. WBZ NewsRadio described the setup as heat followed by cold Atlantic water. Karen LaFond, who runs Respiro Sauna Co., called it "all about contrast therapy." Last Monday the Hull Redevelopment Authority accepted her $1,250 bid for the only winter vendor concession on its property. That bid covers October 13, 2026 through April 30, 2027, after her summer license ended October 12.
What Hull keeps running into the cold months happens in daylight and close to the water: the beach, Hull Gut, the Weir River estuary and the museum boathouse at Windmill Point. Most of what has closed or stopped this fall belonged to the nighttime and to Nantasket Avenue.
A winter license on the beach
The HRA approved the same operation LaFond ran this summer, The Hull Times reported. The board also asked her to attend its October 26 meeting to talk about her request to add a second sauna and fire pits. If that request is approved, the HRA land would offer more to do in winter than it did in summer.
WBZ's report described daily morning sessions from 5:30 to 9:30 a.m., some evening slots Wednesday through Saturday, and a price of $40 for 50 minutes. That report covered the summer setup. Winter hours may change once the water drops another ten degrees, so check with Respiro Sauna Co. before booking. The Patriot Ledger ran a photo gallery of LaFond and the sauna at Nantasket Beach on September 24.
The late-night venues along Nantasket Avenue
Across Nantasket Avenue, the C Note had its last show on Sunday, September 27. It was a Tribute to the Great American Songbook with Michael Maloon and Melanie Whelan, added after the planned farewell on September 26 with the Aerosmith tribute band Draw the Line sold out. The club had opened in 2008 and run for 18 years.
Speaking to The Hull Times, longtime bar manager Barbara Rhind said several pressures added up. Rebuilding the audience after the pandemic shutdown was slow, and outdoor events elsewhere drew people away. She also pointed to evening parking. The beach reservation lot across the street, run by the Department of Conservation and Recreation, could be locked as early as 8:30 p.m., and the club was licensed to stay open until 1 a.m.
"We gave it our best shot."
Rhind said this to The Hull Times after she had to cancel every show booked from October 1 into 2027. The building sold in July for $1.1 million, and its future use has not been announced.
The same thing is happening on a smaller scale in Hull Village. The website for Shipwreck'd at The Nauti Dog, at 173 Main St., still lists regular hours, but it also posts a "CLOSED FOR THE SEASON" notice saying it will see customers in the spring.
One opening could still bring some evening life back to Nantasket Avenue. In June, the Select Board approved liquor, common-victualler and entertainment licenses for Tide and Flames at 145 Nantasket Ave., the former Nantasket Flatts property. Phuong Tran, the proposed manager, described a menu of seafood and Vietnamese dishes. The town's license notice lists indoor food service from 10 a.m. to 1 a.m. every day of the year, and the patio from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. May through September. Boston Restaurant Talk reported the plan on August 6. No opening date has been confirmed, so for now it is a licensed, year-round plan rather than an open restaurant.
Saturday, October 24, on the water
The busiest day left in Hull's season starts on the Weir River. The Hull Lifesaving Museum and the town's volunteer groups have scheduled almost everything for the same Saturday, and most of it happens near the water:
- 8:30 to 10:30 a.m. Check-in for the 40th annual Head of the Weir River Race at Steamboat Wharf, 48 George Washington Boulevard. Entry is $45 per rower, and you have to register online because there is no same-day sign-up. High tide is at 10:21 a.m.
- 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Hull Artists' fifth annual Juried Artisans Craft Show at the Hull Yacht Club, with 23 artisan crafters.
- 11:30 a.m. The race starts. Up to 60 boats and more than 200 rowers from New England and New York cover five and a half miles. The course runs from the headwaters of the Weir, past Bumpkin Island and across Hull Bay to the museum's Windmill Point Boathouse at Hull Gut.
- After the finish. The traditional party is at the boathouse. Once competitors have gone through the food line, spectators can eat for a suggested $5 donation.
- 3 to 5 p.m. Fall Fest at Hull High School, $10 per person.
- 5 to 8 p.m. The museum's second night of the Hull-O-Ween Pumpkin Trail. Tickets are $10 per person or $20 per family.
This year's race start is also a shoreline story. The Hull Times noted that marsh erosion has gotten bad enough to move the traditional starting line. Every boat now launches at Steamboat Wharf and rows a mile and three-quarters to the start before the timed race begins. If the weather is poor, the race moves to Sunday, October 25.
The Pumpkin Trail also runs Friday, October 23, at the same hours. It starts at the museum entrance and passes more than 100 jack-o'-lanterns carved by local residents. Inside are carvings by local artist Jeff Menice, and outside are pumpkins carved by the South Shore Neptune Dive Club. The route continues to a pumpkin-lit deck and a haunted wilderness trail. A beer tent is set up on the main lawn. The Hull Times community calendar lists the trail as starting Thursday the 22nd. The museum's own page lists only Friday and Saturday, and it is the more reliable source.
Daylight hours, then nothing on weekends
Two of Hull's best-known services are winding down at the same time, and each keeps its daytime or weekday hours longest.
| Service | Fall schedule | Ends or continues |
|---|---|---|
| Paragon Carousel | Saturdays and Sundays, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. | Season ends October 25 |
| F2H ferry, weekends | Ran from Pemberton Point on the September 12 timetable | Ended October 11 |
| F2H ferry, weekdays | Hull-to-Boston departures mostly in the morning, plus 1:20 and 6:15 p.m. | Year-round |
| Respiro Sauna Co. | Concession on HRA land at Nantasket Beach | Through April 30, 2027 |
The carousel's weekend hours already showed how fragile the fall season is. It closed September 26 and 27 because of weather. That leaves Saturday, October 24, and Sunday, October 25, as the last two days to ride it this year, and October 25 is also the Head of the Weir rain date.
The ferry change took effect yesterday. MBTA's weekend F2H timetable lists weekend Hingham-Hull service as seasonal, ending October 11, 2026. Weekday F2H service is listed as year-round. Under the weekday schedule effective September 8, boats leave Pemberton Point for Boston at 6:00, 7:00, 7:30, 8:05, 8:40 and 9:10 a.m., then at 1:20 and 6:15 p.m. Boats coming back from Long Wharf stop at Hull throughout the afternoon and evening. The last two, at 9:55 and 10:35 p.m., are drop-off only and stop at Hull only if passengers ask when boarding in Boston. A Hull trip is an outer harbor fare, $9.75 full or $4.85 reduced. Weekday commuters lose nothing this week. Anyone who used the boat for Saturday trips into the city will now have to drive or wait for spring.
Free lots and indoor walls through November
The shoreline is easier to reach once the summer crowds leave. According to the Paragon Carousel's visitor information, from Labor Day through the Friday before Memorial Day weekend the DCR lots are free and Nantasket Avenue has no parking restrictions. For a 5:30 a.m. sauna session or a noon walk to watch the rowers come in, parking costs nothing until next spring.
Most of what isn't on the water moves into buildings close to it:
- Hull Artists at Nantasket Beach Resort, 45 Hull Shore Drive. The open juried photography show runs October 9 through November 18.
- Town Hall and the Hull Public Library. The Hull Times reported that Craig Bradley and Tricia Tkaczuk Griffin are showing at Town Hall through November 3. Desiree April Connolly and John Marshall Dyke are at the library through November 4. Both shows are free during each building's regular hours.
- Hull Village Architecture Walk, Saturday, October 17, 10 a.m. to noon. The group meets at the St. Nicholas parking lot, 128 Spring St., and the walk costs $15.
- The library's annual Haunted House, Wednesday, October 28, 4 to 7 p.m., at 9 Main St. It includes games and other Halloween activities, and no registration is needed.
- November 14 at the museum. A Comfort Birds Carving Workshop runs 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at 1117 Nantasket Ave. for $45. A screening of "In the Whale" follows at 2 p.m. at the Windmill Point Boathouse, 185 Main St., for $30.
The museum's Wednesday Sangha Fall Workshop also continues through October 28, 7 to 8 p.m., for $35. It is one of the few evening events still on the calendar, and like the race, the trail and the November screening, it is run by the Hull Lifesaving Museum.
From the museum's events to the sauna's license through April, Hull's activity in the cold months now centers on the shore near Hull Gut and Nantasket Beach. The next thing to watch is the HRA's October 26 meeting, where LaFond will present her request for a second sauna and fire pits.
Frank Neer grew up on this stretch of the South Shore, and our team follows changes like the HRA's waterfront decisions and the ferry calendar because they shape daily life in Hull. If you'd like to talk about how the shoreline here works through the off-season, Frank Neer is glad to share what we've learned. Contact Us.
