Laconia Motorcycle Week: The tradition lives on in New Hampshire
Here's a glimpse of some bikers who braved the rain, including old-timers who've been coming to the rally for decades and newcomers attending for the first time this year.
Dave Holland of Delaware poses for a photo next to his bike during Laconia Motorcycle Week at Weirs Beach.
Danielle Parhizkaran/Globe Staff
He's checking another bike rally off his list
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Dave 'Big Foot' Holland, 67, traveled over 400 miles from his home in Delaware on a 2007 Triumph Rocket to attend the Laconia Motorcycle Week for the first time this year.
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'It does get up and go,' he said of the bike.
Holland started riding motorcycles when he was 17, with about a 20-year hiatus while he was in the Air Force and married to a woman who disapproved. 'After we got divorced, I got my bike back,' he said.
In that time, he's developed certain rules for the road. 'My standard rule is one beer per tire. I have two tires. I can have two beers. Second beer means I have to get something to eat,' he said. 'I want to live a little longer than my body allows.'
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Bikers flock to New Hampshire for the Laconia Motorcycle Week at Weirs Beach on June 17, 2025.
Danielle Parhizkaran/Globe Staff
Kayla Labrie from Concord, N.H., wears heart-shaped glasses under her biker helmet.
Danielle Parhizkaran/Globe Staff
Recent converts dreaming of road trips
This was the first year Kayla Labrie, 28, of Concord, N.H., had been to bike week since she was a child. She came this year on a family excursion with her boyfriend, James Stone, 34, his mother Shirley Loranger, and his stepfather, John Loranger.
She and Stone were was riding Stone's bike, a 1999 Harley-Davidson Road King that he's had for five years. Stone, a mechanic, said he's made a few updates, like adding hard bags, a radio, 'fat boy' rims, and underglow, lighting that illuminates the underside of the motorcycle. 'Just cosmetic stuff,' he said.
Stone estimates he's driven the bike about 130,000 miles, mostly around New Hampshire and Maine. His dream? A long road trip out west on the historic Route 66.
This is his fourth year coming to bike week, Stone said: 'Just good vibes, good times, good food.'
James Stone stands with his 1999 Harley-Davidson Road King at Laconia Motorcycle Week.
Danielle Parhizkaran/Globe Staff
The longtime bike enthusiast
On the first day of her vacation, the rain did not stop Shirley Loranger from traveling from Goffstown, N.H., to Laconia to check out the motorcycle rally on the back of a brilliant blue Harley-Davidson trike motorcycle.
'I love looking at all the different bikes,' she said. 'I enjoy the clubs and the patches and the colors. It's just cool, watching people relax and let loose at the same time.'
Loranger, James Stone's mother, said she's been coming to the rally for three years, but her husband, John Loranger, has been coming since 1979.
'I was in a bike club back then, and it was crazy,' he said. 'Up and down Route 3, people camping on the side of the road, (running) their own bars on the side of the road.'
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Since then, he said, the scene has mellowed. 'Now, it's just a place to come and see other people and enjoy the ride and enjoy the weather.'
John Loranger said he's been riding bikes since he was 16, and he got his first Harley in 1977, a bike he's held on to but no longer rides because of injuries.
Dave Holland of Delaware wears a Big Foot patch in reference to his own nickname while attending the Laconia Motorcycle Week at Weirs Beach on June 17, 2025.
Danielle Parhizkaran/Globe Staff
Phil and Gloria Dussault of Methuen, Mass., pose next to their bike during Laconia Motorcycle Week.
Danielle Parhizkaran/Globe Staff
He traded in two wheels for three
Phil Dussault, 68, said he started coming to Laconia Motorcycle Week in 1995, about 20 years after he first began riding motorcycles in 1974.
'I got my motorcycle license before I got my car license,' he said.
This year, he traveled from his home in Methuen, Mass., on a 2024 Harley-Davidson Tri Glide Ultra, after trading in his two-wheeler last year. Getting older, he said, the stability of three wheels seemed like a safer way to keep enjoying the sport he loves.
'The breeze in your face and just joy riding around is so much nicer on a motorcycle, even though it's dangerous,' he said.
Decorations adorn the thousands of bikes at Laconia Motorcycle Week at Weirs Beach.
Danielle Parhizkaran/Globe Staff
Business owner Thomas Brown sits under an umbrella in front of his store on the main drag of the Laconia Motorcycle Week at Weirs Beach on June 17, 2025.
Danielle Parhizkaran/Globe Staff
Amanda Gokee can be reached at
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