By JOHN KOZIOL
Staff Writer
LACONIA — The Naswa Resort has been granted
permission by the state Liquor Commission to
operate a "beer festival" tent during Bike Week,
but a Manchester nightclub that wants to have a
similar facility at the rally has so far failed to
submit its application.
The Liquor Commission on Wednesday approved the
request of the Naswa for a three-day beer
festival license for the June 7-15 rally and was
anticipating getting one today from the Uptown
Tavern, said Aidan Moore, who is chief of the
commission’s Enforcement Bureau.
Representatives of both the Naswa and the
Uptown Tavern were unavailable for comment on
Wednesday.
The Naswa has said it wants to have a beer
festival tent on a parking lot it owns on the east
side of Weirs Boulevard and had previously asked
the commission for an extension of its liquor
license to have a beer tent on the parking lot.
The commission rejected the request because the
area was not contiguous to the main inn, which is
on the west side of the road.
The Uptown Tavern, according to Moore, has told
the commission it wants to operate a beer festival
tent at the Weirs Beach Drive-In during Bike Week
for up to nine days.
Any request from Uptown for a beer festival
license would probably require the commission to
do some fine reading of its rules, Moore has said.
Beer festival licenses were meant to be issued
for one, three-day period, Moore noted, and the
commission may question the appropriateness of "a
retailer in Manchester seeking a beer festival
license in Laconia," and of allowing service at
multiple locations.
The Uptown has said it was interested in
serving beer both at the drive-in and across the
street at the Weirs Beach Water Slide.
The Laconia Motorcycle Technical Review
Committee (MTRC), however, has approved a site
plan for a beer tent at the drive-in only but did
not consider any requests for one at the water
slide.
Moore said once the commission receives and
acts on the Uptown’s application, it will have
concluded its review of all Bike Week 2003
beverage licensing applications for Laconia.
Earlier this month, the Liquor Commission
approved the extension-of-service requests of the
Weirs Beach Lobster Pound, 70 Endicott Street
North; Broken Spoke Saloon, 1072 Watson Road; and
the Paradise Beach Club/Coral Reef Restaurant, 322
Lakeside Ave.
