Defiant's 3rd cruise night will bring cars of all kinds downtown

LACONIA — Twice before, Defiant Record & Craft Beer has teamed up with Lake City Auto to host a cruise night downtown. This year’s event, though, will be the first to coincide with Motorcycle Week, and to make sure the event can hold its own, the organizers are making the 3rd Rev, White and Brew Cruise Night bigger than ever.

The cruise night will take place from 4 to 8 p.m. on Friday, June 14.

Kristin Bastille, owner of Defiant, said this year’s cruise night will be about twice as big as either of the first two, each of which brought in more than 80 vehicles.

“We have more spaces, and we’ll have both sides of the road this year,” Bastille said.

In addition to interesting vehicles parked along Main Street, Canal Street will be closed to traffic and filled with local food trucks, an ice cream truck, and Dan McLaughlin from NH Vintage Vinyl spinning records. Defiant will be hosting live music inside the bar, which sits on the corner of Main and Canal.

“It’s been a hit,” Bastille said about past events. “After the first one, people said, 'Can we do this every week?'” Her answer? “No. It’s too hard.” But once a year? Sure.

Bastille said she hopes the event will draw some Motorcycle Week traffic downtown, give locals a chance to do something away from the thrum of Weirs Beach, and, lastly, looks forward to seeing all the classic and otherwise notable cars parked together along Main Street.

Lake City Auto is organizing the vehicles. Bastille said it should be an eclectic mix of rides, each one representing some gearhead’s pride and joy.

“There’s no restrictions, it’s all years, classic, antique or new,” Bastille said. Think old Broncos parked next to new Broncos, Model As, hot rods, rat rods and modern muscle cars.

“It’s a huge range,” she said. “A lot of people build their cars themselves, they’re eager to show them off.”

“There’s a lot of history in Laconia, it’s cool to see these cars lined up,” Bastille said, adding one of her favorite parts of the event is hearing throaty exhaust notes reverberating off the buildings. “I can imagine, back in the day, what it looked like down here.”