By JOHN KOZIOL

Staff Writer

LACONIA — It’s official.

From July 30-Aug. 3, Laconia will be hosting a major gathering of Hells Angels.

"The event will be a convention of Hells Angels. It will take place from July 30 through Aug. 3," Attorney P. Scott Bratton, who has previously represented the New Hampshire Chapter of the club before the Laconia Licensing Board, said this morning.

The event "should be beneficial to the local economy and there should be no need for alarm in the community," said Bratton.

He declined to say if the gathering was the World or USA runs.

What had been widely suspected for months — that the Hells Angels would be holding both the World Run and USA Run in the City on the Lakes this summer — took on a degree of concreteness when Edward Shaughnessy, who is a member of the club’s New Hampshire chapter, filed an application for a fireworks display license with the city in the name of "HAMC-World Run."

HAMC stands for Hells Angels Motorcycle Club.

The fireworks application asks for permission to have Atlas PyroVision Productions of Jaffrey put on a display on July 31 at 9:30 p.m. at the club’s property at 65 Fillmore Ave. The rain date is Aug. 2.

The Laconia Licensing Board was scheduled to meet today at noon to consider the request.

Shaughnessy’s name also appears as the "person in charge" on an application with the State of New Hampshire for a "permit to display non-permissible fireworks" over the same period. The application lists the "HAMC-World Run" and the City of Laconia as insureds. The state fireworks approval is contingent upon the Licensing Board approval.

Additionally, the Hells Angels have asked the Laconia Fire Department for a permit of assembly for a tent they want to erect on the Fillmore Avenue property during July 30-Aug. 3.

The assembly permit is needed anytime someone wants to put up a tent with a capacity of more than 50 people, explained Laconia Fire Chief Ken Erickson on Tuesday.

Erickson said his department has scheduled an inspection of the Hells Angels property for today for both the assembly and fireworks applications.

The tent the Hells Angels want to put up is like "one of the Bike Week tents," said Erickson.

During this past Bike Week, "hospitality tents," also known as "beer tents," were approved by the Laconia Fire Department for occupancies of between several hundred to just over 1,000 patrons.

Laconia Police Chief Tom Oetinger estimates that the two Hells Angels events could draw upward of 1,500 club members to the city.

Area law enforcement first got wind of the potential of the World Run and USA Run coming to Laconia after hearing rumors that the Hells Angels were booking a large number of rooms at local lodging establishments for the days leading into the first weekend in August.

Subsequently, representatives of both the Landmark Inn in downtown Laconia and of the Naswa Resort on Weirs Boulevard confirmed that they did, indeed, reserve rooms for the Hells Angels for the period covering the World and USA runs, but the club itself has remained mum on the matter until today.

Earlier this year, Shaughnessy obtained permission from the Licensing Board to use outdoor loudspeakers at the Fillmore property on a total of 12 occasions between April 1 and Sept. 30.

As a condition of the approval, Shaughnessy agreed to give the city at least seven days advance notice in writing and recently he submitted a handwritten letter to the city’s licensing clerk saying the club will use the loudspeakers between July 30 and Aug. 3.

Regarding the fireworks, Erickson said the main issue for him and the Licensing Board in giving the Hells Angels the display permit is the weather on the day the pyrotechnics are slated to go up.

"The site where they’re at they have a rather large parcel of land that is fairly open, and obviously crowds won’t be an issue since it’s not open to the public. But our biggest concern is the potential for brush fires from fireworks debris," said the chief.

Oetinger, whose department, along with Erickson’s, is also represented on the Licensing Board, said he’ll keep "an open mind" on the Hells Angels fireworks application.

As to specifics about how the LPD is gearing up for the World Run and USA Run, "at this point, basically I’ve been meeting with the area chiefs and federal and state authorities in trying to develop a reasoned operations plan and the primary goal is to provide a very strong, visible presence to act as a deterrent to any potential acts of violence or disorderly behavior," Oetinger said.

Oetinger added that the Belknap County Sheriff’s Office is still waiting to find out whether it will receive a federal Department of Justice grant of almost $400,000 to help offset the cost of the Hells Angels’ runs.

Belknap County Sheriff Dan Collis was unavailable for comment on Tuesday.