Defiant cruise night rescheduled to July

LACONIA — The downtown cruise night, scheduled for Friday evening, has been postponed due to the threat of severe thunderstorms. It has been rescheduled to Friday, July 12.

When Defiant Records & Craft Beer planned its 3rd Cruise Night to coincide with Laconia Motorcycle Week, Kristin Bastille, owner of the bar, originally advertised it as “rain or shine.” But she didn’t want to stretch that to include hail and damaging wind gusts, which could put guests, car owners and vendors at risk — not to mention the dozens of irreplaceable vehicles that were expected to line Main Street.

“We’re super sour about canceling our cruise night,” Defiant posted on its social media pages on Friday morning, “but hey, when life gives you lemons, we bring out the beer!” The page noted that while outdoor festivities were postponed, the bar would continue to host musician Mike Loughlin indoors on Friday night.

The new date for the 3rd Rev, White and Brew Cruise Night, a collaboration between Defiant and Lake City Auto, is Friday, July 12, with a rain date of Friday, Aug. 23.

The event invites owners of antique, classic, collectible, custom or otherwise interesting vehicles to park along both sides of Main Street, while Canal Street will be closed to vehicular traffic and filled instead with food and beer vendors and a DJ.

The first two of Defiant’s cruise nights were very popular, Bastille said, and the third is planned to be about twice as big as either of the first two.