Hope floats for summer gatherings

It’s been almost a year since social distancing became a catch phrase everyone recognizes and a concern that shut down everything from small storefronts to massive festivals and events.

As the summer of 2021 approaches, here's a look at what’s being planned for major events like Laconia Motorcycle Week, Fourth of July, summer camps, the annual boat show in Wolfeboro and the Multicultural Festival in downtown Laconia.

For the most part, event organizers are busy planning, but they also have a wait-and-see state of mind. 

Laconia Motorcycle Week, June 12-20, 2021

Charlie St. Clair, executive director of Laconia Motorcycle Week, said the event is definitely happening from June 12-20 this year, but what is not clear is to what extent. 

Last year, for the first time since motorcycle week was launched in 1916, the event was postponed from June to August in hopes that COVID-19 restrictions would have loosened. That did not happen, St. Clair said, so motorcyclists got in a lot of riding time, but there were few organized activities.

“Some venues were open — bars and restaurants and the beach — and there were some organized rides,” St. Clair explained, noting participation was still good, with folks coming from as far away as California. But there were few vendors at the Weirs, except for the organization’s own booth and several others on the boardwalk, and there were no beer tents or activities around the rest of the state. 

“We’re definitely going to have the rally in June this year,” St. Clair said. “The only thing that could affect it is if the state and city don’t issue permits for beer tents, or outside vendors on private property, which is what they did last year.”

St. Clair said he was grateful to the city of Laconia and the state of New Hampshire for allowing the rally in 2020. He said he will encourage them to wait until April before making any decisions.

“They never attributed a spike (in COVID cases) to the rally after the fact last year,” he said. “The kicker is, the virus is going to be here going forward. And we’re going to have to get shots every year and behave and treat it as another potential illness. We can’t lock down the country for a year (while everyone gets vaccinated.) I can’t imagine it. I think the whole country would go upside down.”

St. Clair said organizers of the event would take the same precautions they did last year — hiring a firm to sanitize everything at Weirs Beach, from surfaces to sidewalks. They will also lease handwashing stations and place them around the area and launch an advertising campaign encouraging participants to wear masks. 

“We’ve had an awful lot of inquiries,” St. Clair said. “Motorcycle Week is so important for a lot of businesses statewide. It affects businesses all around the state. It brings in hundreds of thousands of people.”

The virus was not the only catastrophe the Laconia Motorcycle Week Association suffered in 2020. On Christmas day, a fire destroyed the organization’s headquarters in Laconia. St. Clair has been working out of his home and a rental unit in Gilford since.

A fundraising campaign was launched to help rebuild and has since raised $15,000. To make a donation, visit https://www.gofundme.com/f/we-love-laconia-motorcycle-week/donate

“We’re just doing the best we can,” St. Clair said.

Fourth of July festivities in Laconia, July 4, 2021

Matthew Mansur, assistant recreation and facilities director for Laconia Parks & Recreation, said his department is waiting for state and local officials to offer a go-ahead that everything’s back to normal.

At the very least, the city can offer a display of Class B fireworks this year, as it did in 2020. “They went extra high in the air so people can see them further away, at their homes,” Mansur explained. “That’s the very minimum of what we can do.”

The hope is, though, that the event can be offered in the traditional way, with a display in Opechee Park at 10 p.m. on July 4, and events offered there all day. 

“We’ll probably land somewhere in the middle,” he added.

Federal and state governments need to guide the leaders of the Parks and Recreation Commission, who he expects will put the matter on an agenda sometime soon. “Now is the time that we need to be planning for summer, but we have no idea what the summer’s going to look like, so it’s tough to make a lot of those plans and move forward,” Mansur said.

The same goes for the day camp at Opechee Park. Registration begins April 1, and Mansur said the camp is a go at present, but he is not sure what level of activities are possible.

“We had to shut it down last year, but we’re gearing up in hopes it can happen. I do have high hopes because day camp regulations that come from the governor’s task force are more obtainable than they were last year,” Mansur said.

The task force’s guidelines for day camp reopenings aren’t official yet, but camp cohort sizes — the size mandated for maximum grouping of campers — is expected to double from 10 last year to 20 this year. 

Last year, it was not possible to provide staffing and supplies for groups as small as 10 campers. 

As for the five beaches that the Laconia Parks & Recreation oversees, including Weirs Beach, Mansur also doesn’t know what to expect. “That’s going to have to be a decision that’s made closer to the season,” he said. “Those are the balls that are in the air right now. For every decision, there are four or five different actions that need to happen. We’re preparing for each of those actions.

Lake Winnipesaukee Antique & Classic Boat Show, July 24, 2021

Last year, the 47th Lake Winnipesaukee Antique & Classic Boat Show was not able to take place at the Wolfeboro Town Docks, thanks to COVID-19.

Dennis Schauer, immediate past president of the Land of Lakes Chapter of the Antique & Classic Boat Society and a member of its board of directors, said this year’s show is scheduled for July 24. “It all depends on COVID, but we are hopeful,” he said.  

At the show, antique boats that have been restored are on view like works of art. “We have the permits from the town, and we’re ready to go, but at this point, even though it’s scheduled for the normal time, if for some reason this pandemic drags on, we’ll have to make a decision on whether it will be safe or not,” Schauer said. “There’s so much uncertainty at this point, we just don’t know.”

Those who are interested can stay updated at necacbs.org.

“If we have a choice of waiting and pushing it back, we would push it back to the fall,” Schauer said. “This would be the second year without it. The boat owners like doing this. People are missing it. There’s nothing been going on. The association cancelled all its events in the past year.”

Belknap County Fair, August 7-8

Kathy DeNutte, secretary of the board that oversees the Belknap County Fair, said the event will happened as planned on August 7 and 8 — unless the 4-H organization cannot participate.

“It would be hard to have a fair if we cannot have animals,” DeNutte said. “Our plan is to keep planning and preparing for the fair. We are trying to find other attractions to add at the fair that would attract the public, so that if 4-H formally announces it cannot attend, we will still have something fun and educational to offer.” 

The Belknap County Fairgrounds is hoping to host several outdoor events this summer, she added, noting anyone who is interested should watch the website at bcfairnh.org and the organization’s Facebook page. Updates on the August fair will also be posted on the website.

Laconia Multicultural Festival, September 11, 2021

The 2021 Multicultural Festival in Laconia is scheduled for Sept. 11 this year, but Becky Guyer, executive director of the event, cautions that that is a tentative plan.  

“I think we’re all feeling it, like everybody in the world,” Guyer said of the uncertainty. “We don’t have a clue as to how we could socially distance this kind of thing.”

She added that the festival costs from $12,000 to $15,000 each year to produce, and that money is raised through donations. “We really don’t feel comfortable asking people for money at this point. That’s the biggest thing,” she added.

The festival is an annual event with a mission to celebrate Laconia’s rich cultural diversity with live music all day long and food and products from around the world. Guyer has been coordinating it for about 10 years, along with a board of directors.

“We will decide in the next month. Personally, I’m holding out hope that maybe we can do some small, condensed version,” she said. 

Last year, would have marked the 20th annual festival. 

For updates, visit the festival’s website at www.laconiamulticulturalfestival.org.