Weirs Beach demolition
Some years ago there was discussion on this Forum about "rehabing" Weirs Beach. Included in this discussion was mention of Hampton beach. Both Weirs Beach and Hampton Beach have suffered similar paths with respect to popularity with visitors and quality of "product" making visitors want to visit either of these places.
Hampton Beach was not a pleasant place to visit, visually, and not a safe place to visit, socially, and was quickly developing a reputation of a place to not go to. Weirs has been in a similar mode for quite some time, maybe a little more slowly, but, based on the activities of the 1950s, I'd say maybe just as bad.
Hampton Beach decided to change, and to this end they spent millions of dollars cleaning the place up. They also had a very aggressive Executive Director of their local Chamber of Commerce. Physically the place was cleaned up, repaired, painted, and new vendors came in. Socially the place was cleaned up by substantially increasing the police presence, putting some 'teeth' into the enforcement of local ordinances, providing lighting, parking, restrooms, and other amenities attractive to families. Hampton Beach realized that any tourist locale that has places in which visitors spend money must appeal to the parents because they are ones handing out the money to the kids at those places. So, if the overall ambience of the locale is acceptable to the parents, then they will bring their kids who will spend money. And, as a by product, restaurants, lodging facilities, and adult-orients retail will also grow.
So, Weirs could take a long hard look at the way Hampton Beach resuscitated itself and maybe learn a thing or two. Weirs is much smaller than Hampton Beach, but the internal components are relatively the same. A huge stumbling block to "rehabing" the Weirs is clearly the human factor involved, namely, the local government officials, the landlords of current facilities at Weirs, developers and others who want to make their profit up front, and the on-going question and problem surrounding the quality of the water in the Lake.
If the Lake quality diminishes, all of the above means nothing. With strong, clear-headed leadership, a substantial amount of money, and a plan that makes sense, the Weirs can be a premier location once again.
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