Parking Kiosks

Street Parking at Weirs Beach

Beginning on the Saturday before Memorial Day weekend, and ending on Columbus Day, kiosks are in effect daily, from 9am to 10pm. Parking costs $2 an hour, and can be purchased in 15 minute increments. There are 13 kiosks spread along the Avenue, and they accept either coins or cards. They do not accept bills.

Remember your space number when you park, as you will need to enter your space number when you pay at the kiosk. A receipt is optional. You do NOT need to display your receipt on your dashboard.

Depending on which space you are parked in, you can pay for up to 2, 3, or 5 hours at a time. Once a space is paid for, you cannot extend the parking time. You will have to start the time all over again (from zero) to gain additional parking time.

There are 220 parking spaces on Lakeside Avenue. There are 211 regular parking spaces, 8 handicap spaces, and one loading space. Of the regular spaces, 70% (149) of them are 5-hour spaces; 18% (38) are 2-hour spaces; and 12% (24) are 3-hour spaces.

Space numbering begins at the Weirs Beach arrow sign and runs to Foster Avenue. Parking spaces on the East (Lake) side of Lakeside Avenue are oddly numbered, starting with #101, and ending at #341. Parking spaces on the West (Buildings) side are evenly numbered, starting with #102, and ending at #298. (There are no-even numbered spaces between #300 and #340.) There are 168 angled parking spaces, and 52 parallel parking ones.

Can I pay by phone?

Beginning in 2023, you can now pay by phone to park on the street at Weirs Beach. No matter which space you park in, you will start your parking session by texting the following number: 727563.

The message that you will text to 727563 will depend on two things: the maximum number of parking hours allowed for your parking space, and whether you are parking in an even-numbered (“E“) or odd-numbered (“O“) space. All text messages will start with ParkLS, but end with either 2E, 3O, 5O, or 5E, depending upon the space.

To park in a 2-hour space, you will text the following code: ParkLS2E. This covers spaces #220-#264, the spaces in front of the Half Moon block, and spaces #266-#298, the spaces that start in front of the Tower Hill Tavern and that continue up to Foster Avenue.

To park in a 3-hour space, you will text the following code: ParkLS3O. (Make sure you use the letter “O”, for odd, at the end of the code, not a zero.) This code covers spaces #291-#341, the spaces in front of the wide, central section of the boardwalk, from the Winnipesaukee Pier to the train station.

To park in a 5-hour space on the East (Lake) side of Lakeside Avenue, you will text the following code: ParkLS5O. (Make sure you use the letter “O”, for odd, at the end of the code, not a zero.) This code covers spaces #101-#289, the spaces in front of the narrow section of the boardwalk, from the train station down to the beach.

To park in a 5-hour space on the West (Building) side of Lakeside Avenue, you will text the following code: ParkLS5E. This code covers spaces #102-#218, the spaces in front of the historic buildings from the Half Moon Pizza Stand down to the Weirs Beach Arrow sign.

When do I need to feed the parking meters?

There are no meters anymore. In 2017, the 220 public parking meters on Lakeside Avenue were replaced by the 13 parking kiosks.

There are 18 private parking spaces on Lakeside Avenue that once had meters; the private meters were removed soon after the public ones were taken out. The private spaces are located between the footbridge to the Winnipesaukee Marketplace and the Weathervane restaurant. All 18 of these spaces now sport signage warning that parking there is private.

In the following, late 50’s photo, in addition to the parking meters, one can see a sign for Jean’s Cafe to the left of the photo. Jean’s Cafe (named after its original owner, Jean Tehberg) was a small diner that had replaced the large, “3rd Regiment” Victorian that had been destroyed in the great Weirs Beach fire of 1924. Local businessman Sidney Ames leased the building from the NH Veterans Association from 1951 through about 1980. Every summer Chef Sandy Baroni would return from his winter job as a college cafeteria chef and serve up delicious Italian food; there was a mini-bar seating 4 persons and booth style seating complete with in-wall jukeboxes.

Roughly a decade later, the Ames family re-entered the Italian restaurant business when, after purchasing the Winnipesaukee Marketplace building in 1991, they opened the Patio Garden Restaurant, which featured an Italian & American menu. The Patio Garden Restaurant shined during Laconia Motorcycle Week. There were two outdoor stages, one on each side of the building. The restaurant featured four bands a day, and its two bars and two outdoor patios were often filled to the 640-person total capacity. Calling itself “Party Central” during the event, the restaurant’s slogan was “Liquor in the Front – Liquor in the Rear – Lick Her All Over!”. The restaurant closed permanently after the 2019 season.