LACONIA — Expectations for Motorcycle Week are mixed among businesses in Weirs Beach, the traditional epicenter of the annual event that for decades has brought tens of thousands of motorcycle enthusiasts to the Lakes Region.
Some lodging establishments will be full during the nine-day event, while others say they will have room to spare. Some bars and nightspots are eager for the motorcyclists to arrive, while others are closing their doors for the week because of what they consider the onerous restrictions being placed on them this year by the state Liquor Commission.
Anthony Santagate, the owner of the Tower Hill Tavern and the Big House, both on Lakeside Avenue, was overseeing work going on inside the two establishments on Tuesday, just three days before the bikers are expected to start rolling in.
Like other pouring establishments, Santagate and his staff will have to enforce the tougher regulations that require all customers to be seated, maintain social distance from other parties, and wear masks.
“It’s a great challenge to see if it works,” Santagate said. “I’m ready to make sure. That’s what I do.”
He said that he has rented 500 chairs so every customer will have a seat and, in addition, he has laid in a supply of 5,000 face masks.
The Liquor Commission’s Division of Enforcement and Licensing issued an industrywide circular reminding all licensees how critical these guidelines are and emphasized the importance of educating their staff.
The reminder followed Gov. Chris Sununu issuing an emergency order requiring people to wear face coverings when they are part of organized gatherings of 100 people or more.
Santagate anticipates that commission enforcement personnel will be saturating the Weirs area during Motorcycle Week to ensure compliance. He expects there will be up to 12 liquor enforcers working the area on any given night.
He said his 40 employees know the regulations and are ready to enforce them.
But for Keith O’Leary, co-owner of the newly opened brew pub The Witches, the tougher regulations and intense enforcement, coupled with an anticipated surge in customers, proved to be too much. He and his wife Monique decided to close down after being open just two weeks and plan to reopen on Sept. 1 in time for the lead-up to the busy Labor Day Weekend.
“It was the double whammy of COVID and the extra regulations,” he said of the decision to take a bye on Bike Week.
“For the safety of patrons and staff it was prudent to forgo,” he said. “The potential of them fining us, and possible closure” was too great, he explained. “Better to err on the side of caution,” he said.
Michelle Watson, the owner of the Looney Bin, is keeping her fingers crossed. She plans to be open this weekend, but if enforcing the rules proves to be too much of a hassle, she said she will shut her place down and reopen it when Motorcycle Week is over.
“I’m not really sure” how things will go, she said. “I don’t know what to expect.”
She said there have been instances this summer when some customers got argumentative with her staff. She said some people have become irate because parties are limited to six people.
“If they are awful this weekend, we will close,” she said. “If it’s going to affect my liquor license, it’s not worth it.”
The Broken Spoke, the largest biker bar in the area which is just up Route 3 from the Looney Bin, has also announced it will be closed, citing the additional state requirements.
Chris Clark, one of the owners of the Crazy Gringo, said she is looking forward to seeing the motorcyclists arrive.
“We are much smaller (than the Broken Spoke), so we don’t have the same issues as they do.”
She said they have taken out some seating, and will be taking temperatures and enforcing mask-wearing regulations.
“I know there will be issues elsewhere, so I hope we won’t have them,” Clark said.
Jose DeMatos, who owns the Channel Cottages at the end of Weirs Boulevard, said things would be much better if the state had been enforcing these regulations since the beginning of the summer, instead of “springing them” just before the motorcyclists arrive.
“There will be just as many here and have been here since the Fourth of July,” he said. “I think it’s really discrimination,” he said of the tougher regulations and stricter liquor enforcement.
Motorcycle Week will be good for DeMatos’s business, he said. He is full starting on Thursday and through all of next week. All of his guests will be motorcyclists who rescheduled their reservations when the event was postponed from mid-June.
And he said having the event later has been a godsend, since summer tourism business typically drops off by about 75 percent during the second half of August.
Business at the Naswa has been more of a mixed bag, according to Cynthia Makris.
She said those guests who had reservations for Bike Week in June decided to skip coming to this year’s event when they heard it had been postponed and said they would come next year instead. However, she said business from the regular summer guests has been good. Still, she is not expecting a big influx of guests next week.
“I don’t think we are half full (for next week) right now,” Makris said.
She said the inability to get the foreign workers that the 82-unit resort has relied on for staffing has been difficult for business. It was unable to open its dining room for the first time in 63 years because of the lack of staff, she said.
Most guests are understanding about the various changes that have been brought about by the COVID health crisis.
DeMatos is optimistic that those motorcyclists who do show up will have a good time.
“Motorcycle Week is about riding. They are looking for the camaraderie. That doesn’t change,” he said.