Laconia Motorcycle Week

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Line-up of motorcycles at Weirs Beach, Laconia Motorcycle Week 2007.

Laconia Motorcycle Week is a motorcycle rally held in June annually. It is held in Laconia, New Hampshire. Attendance is estimated between 100,000 and 400,000.

The rally has its origin in the Loudon Classic motorcycle race started in 1923 and the Gypsy Tour, where many motorcyclists passed through Laconia. Events were scheduled, including races, shows and a motorcycle hill climb competition.

The Laconia rally has its roots in June of 1916 when a few hundred motorcyclists gathered at Weirs Beach in Laconia. Seven years later, the event was officially recognized by the Federation of American Motorcyclists (to be later called the American Motorcyclist Association) as part the Gypsy Tour, where motorcyclists celebrated races and hill climbs for an entire weekend. The Federation of Motorcyclists continued to sanction the event until 1960.

Motorcyclists continued to return to Laconia in stronger numbers. Participants began flocking to Laconia earlier in the week until the rally unofficially became a week long event. Local businesses became strong supporters of the event which kick started the beginning of their busy tourist season.

However, Laconia’s Bike Week did see times of trouble. During the summer of 1965 a riot between motorcycle gangs and local police broke out, which brought national media attention to Laconia. Local police and city officials began to view the rally as a major inconvenience. Laconia officials enforced stricter law enforcement and the number of events during the week began to decline. The rally was eventually minimized to a three day weekend and saw a large decline in the number of participants.

It wasn’t until the early 1990’s that, in an effort to increase tourism; Laconia businesses approached the Federation of American Motorcyclists for their support to bring the rally back to a week long event. Eventually the business owners joined in a coalition with local motorcycle groups and founded the Laconia Motorcycle Rally and Race Association which organizes and schedules all events associated with motorcycle week. The group is also responsible for promoting the event nationwide and issuing licenses to vendors. Laconia Motorcycle week is now a nine day event which officially ends on Fathers Day.