The Weirs has been a dump for decades. Bike week has been a constant. I don;t think Laconia has ever forgotten the riots at the Weirs, which occurred some 46 years ago. It's quite obvious they will never forget them.
If people want to change the nature of a community, they have to do it themselves. Generally, that means having to change your local government by electing people that actually represent you. Given that Laconia has been, by and large, mostly the same for many decades, I came to the conclusion that this must be what most of the people want. If that's not an accurate assumption, those politicians must have a lot of power all by themselves.
I also don't think you necessarily need a wild Key West or Bourbon Street atmosphere to be a successful community. That's not to say it can't, or shouldn't happen. There are many, many things you could do to make the Weirs and surrounding areas a more desirable area. What that may be will be decided by people with money, and of course, the local government. So far, nobody's really interested in resurrecting the dump. So Bike Week remains the single most successful offering, like it or not.
There's a lot of competition for people with real money to spend on vacations. So they better choose wisely.
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