By JOHN KOZIOL
Staff Writer
LACONIA — In an historic gesture, a local
organization that benefited directly from Bike Week
this year is helping the City of Laconia erase part of
the $11,000 deficit the municipality ran up providing
services during the nine-day rally.
The members of the Weirs Community Park
Association, through their President Don Richards, on
Monday presented a check for $1,500 to Mayor Mark
Fraser during a brief ceremony at the park.
The money will go into the city’s General Fund and
per the donor’s instructions, is intended for a
specific purpose.
"The Weirs Community Park Association would like to
donate this check to the City of Laconia to help
offset the expenses incurred by the city in support of
Motorcycle Week," said Richards, who read from a
prepared statement.
"We would hope that this gesture would inspire
other organizations and businesses who prosper during
Motorcycle Week to step forward and do the same,"
Richards added.
During this year’s Bike Week, association members
collected $14,000 in fees for parking at the
municipally-owned lot at the Weirs Community Park on
Lucerne Avenue.
In the planning for more than 20 years, Weirs
Community Park is envisioned to have walking trails, a
small open air amphitheater, a picnic area and a
children’s playground.
But for the city to apply for much-needed federal
funds to help make those elements possible, the city
had to first build a parking lot, which it did earlier
this year and was able to open just days before the
start of Bike Week on June 7.
Richards said the rest of the money the association
made from the Bike Week parking will be used to pay
for a variety of other projects at the 27-acre Weirs
Community Park, including construction of a new,
handicapped-accessible pathway and entry to the Weirs
Community Park Hall and for additional landscaping at
the parking lot.
Richards has estimated that all of the work will
cost about $50,000, with most, if not all of the price
tag being paid for by the association.
In Laconia, the non-profit park associations
operate and maintain the parks and park houses under
the auspices of the Parks Commission.
City Manager Eileen Cabanel is expected to soon
propose policies to the City Council regarding the
leasing of the city’s park halls directly to the parks
associations and on regulating fund-raising activities
on city property.
During Bike Week 2003, the Weirs Community Park
Association and the Weirs Action Committee reportedly
earned a combined $40,000 in parking fees.
A non-profit group which devotes its assets to
improving The Weirs, the Weirs Action Committee for
years has raised funds by charging for parking during
Bike Week at the city’s Endicott Rock Park.
Asked whether his call to action was directed at
any particular entity, Richards explained that it was
a more broadly based appeal.
"Our call is to whoever is out there ...whoever it
is out there, whether private businesses or any
organization, that prospers from Motorcycle Week, that
they hopefully would think that they need to give a
little something back so that the taxpayers of the
city who do not reap any benefits from Motorcycle Week
would not have to pay, out of their tax money,
additional fees at the end of the year," said
Richards.
Earlier Richards noted that the members of the
Weirs Community Park Association took little time
after learning that the city would permit them to
collect parking fees at the 100-space parking lot at
Weirs Community Park, to vote to give some of the
proceeds to the city, "and a few weeks ago, we decided
what our donation should be."
The association’s donation is "certainly the first
time that someone has come forward to assist the city
with the cost" of Motorcycle Week, said Fraser.
The mayor called the action "commendable" and said
that it was nice to see that the Weirs Community Park
Association realized that the benefits of its
fund-raising "should be shared."
