In 1964 a new race track was built outside Laconia’s jurisdiction, and the event was on again for 1965. The Laconia Chamber of Commerce was enthusiastic enough to contribute $5,000 to the promotional fund. . . which was, after all, a pretty good investment, since the Chamber of Commerce estimates that motorcyclists spend between $250,000 and $500,000 in the area during the weekend of the races. This sounds like a lot, but considering the number of cyclists, it is only $25 to $50 each — most of which goes to motels, souvenir shops, beer joints and hamburger stands.
Mayor Lessard says the event has always been a good start to the tourist season, and that the economy suffered in 1964, when the races were suspended. Former Mayor Gerald Morin, a beer distributor in Laconia, estimates that some fifteen thousand cases of beer were sold to cyclists during the 1965 weekend. Obviously, the races are good for our economy, he said in the wake of the riot. We shouldn’t be making any decisions now that emotions are high. We should wait until they cool down. At the same time, Mayor Lessard put it more bluntly: Even the people who want [the races] may have had some doubts until they deposited their cash in the banks.
Fritzi Baer, a publicist for the New England Motorcycle Dealers Association — which sponsors the races — threw the weight of his prestige on the side of the mayor and the beer distributor: I believe when we get through this year the bad element won’t come back. I know in my heart the bad element won’t come back to the state of New Hampshire after they’ve seen how we deal with them.
Mr. Baer did not define the bad element, but presumably it did not include anyone likely to purchase motorcycles in New England. In any case, some of them were dealt with rather harshly, under the provisions of a new riot law that United Press International reported was rushed through the state legislator only a week before the Laconia races. It provides for fines up to $1,000 and imprisonment up to three years for persons who lead a disturbance or cause personal property damage during a riot. Under the old law, the maximum fine was $25. Contrary to rumors at the time of its enactment, the new law contained no provisions for punishment by dunking stool.
Even as the law was being passed, telephone poles on highways near Laconia were festooned with signs saying: COME TO THE RIOT — SEE WEIRS BEACH BURN SATURDAY NIGHT. Weirs Beach is a lakeside strip outside the town, with water on one side, and taverns, penny arcades and bowling alleys on the other. By nine o’clock Saturday night Lakeside Avenue, the main street, was thronged with some four thousand beer-drinking tourists, about half riding motorcycles. Crowds began appearing on rooftops above the arcade area, and police heard the shout go up: Let’s have a riot!
It was about this time that Mr. Baron drove his car — for some excellent reason, no doubt — right down Lakeside and into the middle of the mob. He’d gone out for a ride, he explained later, taking his wife, his son, his son’s wife and the two grandchildren: Duane, two, and Brenda, eight months old. By the time Mr. Baron began creeping down the crowded street, the action was getting out of hand. People were throwing beer cans down from the rooftops. Police claimed somebody had chained the fire-call boxes and cut the phone lines to police headquarters, although this would hardly have seemed necessary. The police did not need telephones to hear five thousand people chanting, Sieg Heil! while somebody climbed up to hang a swastika on a beachfront flagpole. Then the mob began rocking cars back and forth — including Mr. Baron’s car, which was right in their midst.
Baron got his family out, none of them injured, and watched his car roll over and begin burning when one of the rioters threw a match in the spilled gasoline.
The flames lit up the street just about the time the National Guard arrived on the scene with fixed bayonets and rifle butts swinging. With them came local gendarmes, firing shotguns. The mob scattered, many of them blinded by tear-gas bombs. The police were pelted with firecrackers, rocks and beer cans, but they were wearing helmets and their ten weeks of training served them well. According to Chief Knowlton, the riot area was cleared in fifteen minutes, but it took another hour to get the sidestreets cleared out. This secondary action involved the rounding up of suspects. There are photos of people being clubbed off motorcycles, prodded out of sleeping bags with bayonets, and according to the Associated Press, police even rousted people registered in hotels. . .