Bike Week permit requests total 53, down 4 from 2002

By JOHN KOZIOL

Staff Writer

LACONIA — The agenda for the final meeting of the Motorcycle Technical Review Committee this year will include applications for two more beer tents in The Weirs.

When the MTRC meets on May 1, it will consider the requests of the Weirs Beach Drive-In and the Broken Spoke Saloon to operate beer tents.

The MTRC’s approval is required before a prospective beer tent operator can seek an extension-of-service license from the New Hampshire State Liquor Commission (NHSLC).

To date, the MTRC has approved beer tents for the Naswa Resort on Weirs Boulevard, the Paradise Beach Club on Lakeside Avenue and the Weirs Beach Lobster Pound on Endicott Street North.

The NHSLC met on Wednesday but, according to its agenda, did not consider any Bike Week beer tent applications.

Unlike last year, Laconia Planning Department staff said, neither Donna Jean’s Diner on Weirs Boulevard nor JT’s Bar-B-Q and Roadhog Saloon, nor the Funspot, both on Endicott Street North, sought approval for beer tents.

Staff did say, however, that at a previous MTRC meeting this year, JT’s had indicated a desire to let visitors to its entertainment tent bring their own alcoholic beverages. The matter is unresolved and could be continued at the MTRC’s May 1 meeting, staff said.

Last year, just prior to the start of Bike Week, the issue of the Bike Week beer tents became controversial when the NHSLC, citing potential public safety concerns, rejected the applications filed by the Lobster Pound, JT’s, the Broken Spoke, Donna Jean’s and Educate America Inc., which had planned to operate out of the Weirs Beach Drive-In; Funspot had earlier withdrawn its application from the NHSLC.

But after getting the applicants to agree to a number of conditions, including one that limited the maximum number of people allowed inside the beer tents at one time, the commission did approve extension-of-service licenses for the Lobster Pound, JT’s and the Broken Spoken and later also okayed Donna Jean’s application, but not Educate America’s. The Baldi family owns the Weirs Beach Drive-In and several of its members are principals in both Educate America and East Coast Events, according to their MTRC applications.

Following its May 1 meeting, the MTRC will have considered 53 Bike Week site plan requests which is down slightly from 57 in 2002, said Planning Department staff.