Lakeside Sharks

The Lakeside Sharks Motorcycle Club, which has been at the core of Motorcycle Week for the past 32 years, disbanded over the winter.

Charlie St. Clair, the executive director of the Laconia Motorcycle Week Association, was a founding member of the club, which was a charter member of the American Motorcycle Association.

"It started among friends. It began as a safety thing," St. Clair recalled. "We were always complaining about cars not giving bikes enough space on the road and some of got the idea that if we rode together, car drivers would be afraid of us. It worked," he laughed.

"Lakeside," after Lakeside Avenue at The Weirs, St. Clair said, was an obvious choice for a name. "We were all into West Side Story at the time," he continued. "You know, the Sharks and the Jets. With the lake, it had to be the Sharks."

St. Clair said that from the outset the Lakeside Sharks were a riding and touring club that soon became what he called "a service club." He recalled that the group's fundraising efforts began with car washes for muscular dystrophy and gradually expanded. Over the years, he said, the club raised thousands of dollars for the American red Cross, Salvation Army, Santa Fund, Lakes Region Community Service Council St. Vincent DePaul Food Pantry and other local organizations. He was especially proud of the club's contributions to the Laconia High School Scholarship Fund.

At its peak, St. Clair estimated, the club counted between 100 and 125 members, spread across the country, but centered around the Lakes Region. "There was a chapter in Boulder, Colorado, because I went to college there," he said.

The club was a visible presence and integral part of Bike Week.

The Lakeside Sharks enjoyed a seat on the board of what was then the Laconia Motorcycle Rally and Race Week Association, held a license to sell products bearing the official logo of the rally, hosted the Gypsy Tour, and welcomed rally goers with a banner spanning Lakeside Avenue and a message in the Rally News.

St. Clair lauded the Lakeside Sharks for their part in transforming Bike Week into the successful celebration of motorcycling that it has become during the past decade.