Laconia council mulls extra day for Bike Week vendors
Saying it represents a “goodwill gesture” as well as an opportunity to bring in some extra licensing revenues, the City Council is supporting the idea of letting vendors sell their wares one day before the official start of Bike Week 2009.
Following a meeting of the council’s Finance Committee Monday, City Manager Eileen Cabanel was directed to draft an ordinance that, following a public hearing, could be in place for the rally, which this year runs from June 13-21.
For $100 extra, a vendor would be able to start doing business as of a time to be determined on June 12. A regular Bike Week licensing permit costs $450.
The rationale behind the early vending fee is that the vendors are already here, that they want to sell and that locals are eager to buy before the activities really start rolling, said Councilors Armand Bolduc and Bob Hamel.
The city’s public safety heads say the extended vending wouldn’t change the way they already did business on the Friday before the rally, but both Police Chief Mike Moyer and Fire Chief Ken Erickson expressed concern about the “slippery slope” of Bike Week stretching beyond its current nine days.
While its was agreed that food vendors might also want to begin doing business as their t-shirt or leathers-selling brethren, the chiefs and the committee members were adamant that they would not support the early opening of three beer tents.
Moyer, in conversations he had with rally promoter Charlie St. Clair of the Laconia Motorcycle Week Association, estimated that the earlier vending could see the city make up to an additional $1,200 this year. Erickson speculated that up to 30 vendors might take advantage of the extra selling opportunity.
However many vendors do show up, said Bolduc, who represents the city on the LMWA board of directors, that’s better than seeing those vendors and potential customers go to another venue outside of Laconia.
“Let’s try this for a year and see what happens,” Hamel said. “I think we can get a fair amount of people open.”
With the city of Myrtle Beach, S.C. canceling its two motorcycle rallies this year, “we could have a huge influx of vendors and visitors,” Hamel added, suggesting that vendors could be allowed to sell from 2 p.m. until Midnight on Bike Week Eve.
Erickson expressed surprise that “we’re not shortening this thing,” later explaining that to keep costs down for the city and also for vendors, the rally could be shorter than it is now. The extra several hours that a vendor gets to sell his merchandise at Bike Week will not mean significantly more income for the vendor, Erickson said.
Hamel suggested that the council hold a public hearing on the vending changes and Cabanel agreed, noting that some residents of The Weirs already “complain very loudly” that the rally is too long.
Joe Driscoll, of the Weirs Action Committee, said if the council allows the early vending,” this would be seen very much as a good will gesture” by property owners and vendors while also helping to keep Bike Week money in Laconia.
Driscoll went so far as to suggest that the vendors be able to open up on Friday for free. He discounted Cabanel’s concern that if Laconia allows earlier vending, competing venues in other communities would do the same. Driscoll said most Bike Week visitors don’t show up much sooner than the Friday before the start of the rally.
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