Sturgis Rally Tidbits!

Aug 11, 2010

We’ve gathers some information for those not familiar with the rally at Sturgis. As well as those that are frequent visitors and wanted to educate themselves on where they are staying and what people are doing while in Sturgis. This is random stuff so enjoy:

Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, is a week-long happening every year in early August, hosted in Sturgis, SD, population 6,500. The rally has been held every year in Sturgis since 1938 with the exception of two years during WWII when gas rationing rules prevented recreational travel. Nine racers participated in the first rally, competing for $750 in prize money in front of a small crowd of racing enthusiasts who had paid 50 cents each for the experience. By 1960 attendance was 800, by 1970 that number had grown to 2,000, and in 2010, for the rally’s 70th anniversary, projections are for over 600,000 attendees.

During the event Sturgis becomes the largest city in the state by a factor of three. That equates to each household in town hosting 183 “guests.” Nearly 500 festival-goers will land in jail; hundreds will be issued tickets for violations such as indecent exposure, open container, or driving on the sidewalk; 350+ will require hospital emergency room visits; two or three will die of heart attacks; and a half-dozen or more will be killed in traffic accidents. Sturgis spends over $1 million in insurance, increased law enforcement, attorney costs, fire and ambulance services, etc, etc..

According to a survey funded by the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally itself, $987 million comes into South Dakota annually from the event. Rally-goers will need to pay an inflated $5.50 for a beer at the world’s largest biker bar, but Mt. Rushmore, Custer State Park, and some of the most scenic drives in the country are complimentary.

Tens of thousands of people will be “inked” at the rally. The city-owned liquor store, creatively named Sturgis Liquor, is the only liquor store in town, a pretty smart move on the part of founding fathers, given that rally goers drink an estimated three million gallons of beer. On average, visitors stay 5.5 days and spend $180 per day.

Hotel rates double and triple, climbing as high as $300 a night for a room and are sold out for a 50-mile radius. It seems as though every square foot in town is rented to someone: Locals rent out their homes for $3,000 to $10,000 a week and rent their yards to campers who pitch tents or park bikes. City law limits homeowners to 19 renters per property.

Consider this for comparison: New York City: 26,402 persons per square mile. South Dakota: 9.9 persons per square mile. Sturgis, South Dakota (August 9-16, 2010, projected) : 160,427 persons per square mile.

Although it’s impossible to determine the exact number of people at the rally, there are several metrics used by the city to estimate annual attendance, including traffic counts and taxable receipts. Over 700 temporary vendors set up shop in the city, hawking everything from $2 rubber bracelets to $125,000 custom-made motorcycles. A more ingenious method of estimating crowd size is by examining the quantity of artifacts left behind. Six hundred tons of “rally garbage” was hauled away in 2009.

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