By PAULA TRACY, InDepthNH.org
CONCORD – With the 99th running of Laconia Bike Week just two months away, planning is underway for for the nation’s oldest and one of the largest biker gatherings in the nation on the heels of a biker brawl Sunday in front of the State House.
In recent years the rally has been a pretty sleepy event by criminal standards. But clashes among outlaw motorcycle groups similar to one in Concord Sunday on Main Street in front of the State House where a firearm was discharged and bikers exchanged blows in the middle of the street got statewide attention.
Concord and New Hampshire State Police were working on the incident Sunday and into Monday but there were no charges reported following the fight reported outside businesses at 4 Park Street and Main Street.
The incident, reported Sunday at 1:25 p.m. left a block of the city’s main road blocked off by crime scene tape for several hours after the incident.
Witnesses said the gathering of motorcyclists fled following the fighting and the discharged firearm before police arrived on the scene.
Concord Patch reported that a statewide “be on the lookout” was issued for members of a motorcycle group called the Knights of Sin Motorcycle Club and if approached, to use extreme caution.
A spokesman for the Concord police department said the fight coincided with an annual motorcycle and parts swap at the Everett Arena in Concord. Police encouraged anyone with information to call them at 225-8600.
Laconia Bike Week
Laconia’s Bike Week will be held June 11-19 statewide with events meant to capture the attention and interest of bikers from around the nation and beyond. See details here: https://laconiamcweek.com/schedule-of-events/
It will be celebrating its 100th anniversary as the longest-running bike rally in the nation in 2023 and is expected to be heavily attended.
The event is considered much tamer than it was even in the 1990s when police made hundreds of arrests over the nine days for drugs, fights, and other disturbances.
But in recent years, there have been few if any troubles, in spite of the fact that it is considered on the territory of the Hells Angels, one of the nation’s largest outlaw motorcycle groups.
The Knights of Sin Motorcycle Club is not listed as enemies or friends of the Hells Angels, according to listings on the website complex.com but there appear to be chapters of the group in Massachusetts and Connecticut.
Outlaw motorcycle clubs or what the American Motorcycle Club describe as the 1 percenters, a small minority of biker groups who are involved as an organization in criminal activity and have rivals for that activity, have come to Laconia Bike Week but have not always worn their jackets which identify their affiliation.
The 99 percenters and those who are not in a biker group at all come to New Hampshire to ride, meet with other friends who like motorcycles and attend live music, competitions and support many local charities which derive thousands of dollars from work at the rally, statewide.
This year, for example, Makris Lobster & Steak House at 364 Sheep Davis Road on the Concord/Loudon line plan a street bike stunt show with music, food and promotional competition for bikers on June 11 and June 12 from 2 to 11 p.m.
The Northeast Motorsports Museum at the New Hampshire International Speedway at 1122 New Hampshire Route 106 in Loudon will be open with displays for both the first and second weekend of the rally and there will be live music planned each day in the Weirs Beach section of Laconia at the Naswa, Tower Hill Tavern and the Looney Bin.
The City of Laconia, the epicenter for the event is planning a number of events while hotels and restaurants fill up in the area that week and help kick-start the summer tourist season in June.
The past two years Bike Week was held during COVID-19 but it was a much smaller gathering than in recent years and at a different time of year.
