Laconia could be first city in state to adopt social districts

LACONIA — Councilors sent the creation of social districts to committee during their meeting on a snowy Monday night.

Social districts — areas of the city where open alcohol consumption will be tolerated — will be examined by the subcommittee on public safety. 

Voters in Laconia authorized the creation of social districts during the Municipal Election in November 2025. The question, included on the ballot, received a majority of support from city voters. Councilors in September 2025 voted to include the question on the ballot.  

The New Hampshire Legislature passed an enabling law to allow towns and cities to implement social districts if voters approve them. Mayor Mike Bordes, who was elected in November and succeeded former Mayor Charlie St. Clair, is also one of Belknap County’s Republican representatives to the Statehouse, and was one of the co-sponsors of the social districts bill. St. Clair serves Laconia in Concord as a Democrat.

House Bill 467 came into effect Sept. 5, and defines a social district as an “outdoor area in which a person may consume alcoholic beverages sold by a licensee.” According to the law, any town or city can allow their creation by ballot measure and now, it’s up to the city council to implement them.  

Laconia and Concord were the lone cities to see their ballot measures approved — voters in Keene, Nashua and Portsmouth rejected the notion.  

Laconia has a distinct advantage in establishing social districts, as the city routinely manages outdoor drinking during various events throughout the year. Laconia Motorcycle Week in the Weirs, for example, brings thousands of visitors to the city to eat, drink and recreate. Laconia Pumpkin Festival, which had its inaugural year in 2025, similarly attracts tourists to the city, and downtown business owners frequently collaborate during the summer to host events to bring in tourists, too.

“I just want to ask you to, whatever areas you pick, to try not to make it any more complicated than you have to. I hope you stay away from some of the things I’ve heard coming out of the state, like wristbands and special cups and all that stuff,” St. Clair said during a period for public comment Monday night. “I only look at what I’ve experienced around the country, where they’ve been doing this for several years, and I look at a big place like Daytona Beach. Daytona Beach started this a number of years ago, and their thought was, ‘We’re going to do cups.’ And you can come out of the bar with a cup from that place, but that has quickly gone by the boards and now people just come in with their own beverages, or they come out of the bars."

St. Clair noted he’s spoken with business owners near Weirs Beach and believes they could benefit from a social district in their neck of the woods, too.

“I’ve not seen any problems with it down there, people use trash receptacles so there’s not craziness everywhere,” St. Clair said. “I hope wherever you choose in Laconia — as I’ve heard Councilor [Bob] Soucy and Councilor [Steven] Bogert make reference to Canal Street — but there’s more downtown that just Canal Street, and there’s also a big area up at the Weirs which probably would work, that being Lakeside Avenue.” 

St. Clair, himself also a business owner downtown, is the executive director for Laconia Motorcycle Week.

City Manager Kirk Beattie said he’s considered starting with downtown — Main Street from Pedestrian Way to Veterans Square, not crossing the intersection, to include Hanover and Canal streets, and on the Pleasant Street side to the Bank of New Hampshire parking lot. Then Pleasant from that area down to Main, and the parking lots between Main and Pleasant. 

“I was asked to put together my ideas just to get the talking point started,” Beattie said. “It’s your decision, but we’ve got to start somewhere.” 

Rotary Park could also be considered for inclusion during sanctioned events like concerts. Bordes said he’d like to figure out a way to include Rotary Park during special events only, not all of the time.  

“I think you actually have some opportunity in there for time frames for this, separate from our normal alcohol sales timeframe as well as locations,” Beattie said. “I think you can be a little bit more restrictive. 

Soucy, Ward 2, said the Pumpkin Festival footprint is larger than the area discussed, and will likely include the use of Rotary Park. 

“You do have to have marked containers,” Beattie said. “They have to be labeled so they know where they came from, which establishment.” 

Ward 3 Councilor Eric Hoffman said the city could consider defining separate social districts for specific events. 

“The marked containers, the reason behind that is you want to make sure that the alcohol is sold from a licensed place. We don’t want people coming in with their own alcohol walking around and the liquor commissioner will be paying attention to that,” Bordes said. “We’re just focusing on downtown right now just as an initial start to this, I think it’s a good kickoff to see how it works rather than doing multiple places at once. Let’s see how it works in one area and then we could possibly move it to others.”