Motorcycle Week 2003 is now history — and the consensus is the event was by most measures a success.

Tens of thousands of motorcyclists came to the Lakes Region and fanned out across the state during the nine-day event. Organizers put the turnout at an estimated 350,000 bikers, but the accuracy of that number has become the subject of debate. But what everyone involved in the event on the local level agrees on that whatever the number, the event created in few problems for police and other public safety agencies.

The success of Motorcycle Week on that score goes to the organizers — notably the Laconia Motorcycle Rally and Race Week Association — along with city officials, including Mayor Mark Fraser and Police Chief Tom Oetinger, and others in the public and private sectors who worked collaboratively to ensure that the event was a benefit to visitors and local residents alike.

Interestingly, the mood in the weeks leading up to this year’s Bike Week was strikingly different that it was prior to last year’s. Gone were the rumblings of possible gang-instigated trouble during the event which in 2002 played itself out in variety of ways, including the a proposal to make The Weirs a gun-free zone, efforts to limit vendor permits for the Hells Angels and the controversy over the size and number of beer tents.

This year the message from the various constituencies was more univocal — have a good time, but act responsibly or otherwise expect to pay the consequences. By all accounts, the message got out. There were relatively few arrests and no major law enforcement problems.

While the cool and sometime rainy weather may have played a part, the outcome of events of this scale are not merely the result of happenstance. They are the product of planning and commitment.