The Sturgis Motorcycle Rally is a motorcycle rally held annually in Sturgis, South Dakota, and the surrounding

Black Hills The Black Hills ( lkt, Ȟe Sápa; chy, Moʼȯhta-voʼhonáaeva; hid, awaxaawi shiibisha) is an isolated mountain range rising from the Great Plains of North America in western South Dakota and extending into Wyoming, United States. Black ...

region of the United States. It began in 1938 by a group of

Indian Motorcycle Indian Motorcycle (or ''Indian'') is an American brand of motorcycles owned and produced by American automotive manufacturer Polaris Inc. Attendance has historically been around 500,000 people, reaching a high of over 700,000 in 2015. The event takes place over 10 days and generates around $800 million in annual revenue.

History

The first rally was held by

Indian Motorcycle Indian Motorcycle (or ''Indian'') is an American brand of motorcycles owned and produced by American automotive manufacturer Polaris Inc. The club still owns and operates the tracks, hillclimb, and field areas where the rally is centered. The first event was called the "Black Hills Motor Classic." The founder was Clarence "Pappy" Hoel. He purchased an Indian motorcycle franchise in Sturgis in 1936 and formed the Jackpine Gypsies in 1938. The Jackpine Gypsies were inducted to the

Motorcycle Hall of Fame The AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame Museum is an offshoot of the American Motorcyclist Association, recognizing individuals who have contributed to motorcycle sport, motorcycle construction Motorcycle components and systems for a motorcycle are en ...

in 1997. Hoel was inducted into the AMA Hall of Fame the following year. The focus of a motorcycle rally was originally

racing In sport, racing is a competition of speed, in which competitors try to complete a given task in the shortest amount of time. Typically this involves traversing some distance, but it can be any other task involving speed to reach a specific go ...

and

stunt A stunt is an unusual and difficult physical feat or an act requiring a special skill, performed for artistic purposes usually on television, theaters, or cinema. Stunts are a feature of many action films. Before computer generated imagery sp ...

s. In 1961, the rally was expanded to include the Hillclimb and Motocross races. This could include half-mile track racing (the first year in Sturgis, there were 19 participants), intentional board wall crashes, ramp jumps and head-on collisions with automobiles. The Sturgis Rally has been held every year, with exceptions during World War II. In 1942, the decision was made by the Black Hills Motor Classic Committee to not hold their regular event until after the war was over. The reason given for not holding the event was the "inability to obtain high-class talent." The Sturgis Rally would not be held again until 1946, when the Black Hills Classic Reorganized and made plans to revive the motorcycle rally. Originally the rally was composed of two separate events that spanned three days. Starting of the event was a Gypsy tour, where riders would be guided through the Black Hills by an escort of Jackpine Gypsy club members. The following two days would be filled with motorcycle and automobile races. Additional events would be held in the downtown district of Sturgis, including parades, dances, and animal shows. Through the 1970s and early 1980s, many attendees camped in City Park. When a record 40,000 visitors arrived in Sturgis in 1980, local residents became concerned with the behavior of these attendees. In 1982, a referendum was presented to the city asking them to no longer provide municipal services such as parking on Main Street, law enforcement and allowing camping in City Park. City attorney Dale Hansen advised that any vote would be non-binding and could not stop the rally because the motorcycle rally is sponsored by private groups. Although the referendum was defeated 1,454 to 826, the City of Sturgis followed the mayor’s committee recommendation to prohibit camping in City Park and eliminate downtown street vendors. For many years, the rally was a seven-day event starting on a Monday during the first full week of August. In October 2016, the city of Sturgis expanded the city’s dates to the 10-day format and have the rally start on the Friday before the first full week of August and end on the second Sunday. In 2017, the Rally became a 10-day event starting on the first Friday in August.

Attendance

The South Dakota Department of Transportation provides official traffic counts, which sometimes differ from official attendance figures. Attendance is higher on major anniversaries (e.g. 75th in 2015) and one or two years prior to the anniversary and falls off the following year or two. "Attendance" is defined as vehicle crossings at about a dozen roads around Sturgis for 10 days, city-wide trash collection, vendor licenses issued in Sturgis, and other sources, not just the actual number of people attending the rally. Most attendees are counted multiple times, so the actual number of people attending is much lower than the listed attendance.

Trademarks and ownership

For many years, the Sturgis Chamber of Commerce claimed ownership of the words "Sturgis", "Sturgis Motorcycle Rally" and "Sturgis Rally & Races" through an attempted trademark claim. Those trademark claims were later transferred to Sturgis Motorcycle Rally Inc., which made efforts to enforce the claims. In 2018, the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit Court ruled the trademark invalid in a dispute between Sturgis Motorcycle Rally Inc. (SMRI) and Rushmore Photo and Gifts. In their ruling, the Court stated that the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally is a pluralistic endeavor promoted by multiple organizations. They further stated that the City’s involvement does not extend beyond the provision of municipal services. The record stated, “We agree and hold that the jury could not infer from the onerous planning that the City undertakes to provide infrastructure for the rally that the City was the organizer or sponsor of the rally. To allow such an inference would be tantamount to saying that it would be reasonable to infer that the City of New York organizes the sessions of the United Nations General Assembly because of everything it does to assist their occurrence. One cannot infer from the fact that a city augments its municipal services to accommodate those who attend an event-e.g., a funeral or political protest-that it organizes, promotes, or sponsors the event in a way that would permit it to acquire ownership over the event or its intellectual property." For many years the city has been in an agreement with SMRI, and its predecessor-in-interest, the Sturgis Area Chamber of Commerce, to license use of the words "Sturgis", "Sturgis Motorcycle Rally" and "Sturgis Rally & Races". That agreement involving invalid trademark enforcement generated millions of dollars in royalties and sponsorship dollars. On December 11, 2019, Federal Judge Jeffery Viken ordered that SMRI may no longer attempt to claim ownership of "Sturgis", "Sturgis Motorcycle Rally" or "Sturgis Rally & Races". The court order called for trademark cancellations to be sent to the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

Rally impact on community and nationwide

The City of Sturgis has calculated that the Rally brings over $800 million to South Dakota annually. The City of Sturgis earned almost $270,000 in 2011 from selling event guides and sponsorships. In 2019, the Rally generated $628,116 for local charities. In 2020, the rally provided 21% of the city's annual revenue. There were 187 individuals jailed at the 2020 rally. Approximately $250,000 worth of motorcycles are stolen annually. Rally-goers are a mix of white-collar and blue-collar workers and are generally welcomed as an important source of income for Sturgis and surrounding areas. The rally turns local roads into "parking lots", and draws local law enforcement away from routine patrols. Furthermore, the large numbers of people visiting the town and region served as a model for the state of Oregon in preparation for the

solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 The solar eclipse of August 21, 2017, dubbed the "Great American Eclipse" by the media, was a total solar eclipse visible within a band that spanned the contiguous United States from the Pacific to the Atlantic coasts. It was also visible as ...

, given the expected impact on emergency services. The Lakota Indian tribe in coalition with other tribes has protested the large amount of alcohol distributed at the event so close to the sacred Bear Butte, but also acknowledged that income from the event was important to the region and also benefits some members of the tribes. There have been a few deaths at the Rally.

Rallies during the COVID-19 pandemic

Concerns about the possible spread of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

and travel restrictions were expected to lead to lower attendance in 2020. The 2020 final traffic count was about 462,000. While some health officials and local leaders wanted to cancel the rally, that proved impossible since many events take place beyond the city limits. The 250,000 participants were recommended but not required to wear face masks in a state that had seen 9,371 confirmed cases, and 144 deaths due to contraction of COVID-19 (0.016% of the population). Several checkpoints to stop outsiders were put up on the Cheyenne River Indian Reservation, an action that state and federal officials consider illegal. The 2020 final traffic count was about 462,000, with many attendees not wearing masks or observing

social distancing In public health, social distancing, also called physical distancing, (NB. Regula Venske is president of the PEN Centre Germany.) is a set of non-pharmaceutical interventions or measures intended to prevent the spread of a contagious dis ...

. Cell phone data showed that by August 25, 2020, 61% of US counties had been visited by a Sturgis attendee. As of August 20, 2020, seven COVID-19 cases in the

Nebraska Panhandle The Nebraska Panhandle is an area in the western part of the state of Nebraska and one of several U.S. state panhandles, or elongated geographical regions that extend from their main political entity. The Nebraska panhandle is two-thirds as bro ...

had been traced to the Rally, and 22 cases had been reported among out-of-state attendees. As of August 21, 2020,

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over t ...

had 15 cases traced to the rally, with more cases expected, and a few cases had been reported in

Wyoming Wyoming () is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho to the west, Utah to the southwest, and Colorado to t ...

. Public health notices were issued for One-Eyed Jack's Saloon, The Knuckle Saloon, The Broken Spoke, and Asylum Tattoo in Sturgis, and for the Bumpin’ Buffalo Bar and Grill in Hill City. Some exposures in Minnesota could not be traced to specific locations. A Minnesota public health official urged all rallygoers to monitor for symptoms for 14 days, adding that "if you are feeling ill after returning from the event, please get tested and self-isolate while you wait for the test results." By August 24, 2020, there were a total of 76 cases linked to the rally, in four states, South Dakota, Minnesota, Nebraska and Wyoming, with additional reports of cases in North Dakota and Washington State. The number rose to 103 on August 24, in at least eight states, including 37 cases in

South Dakota South Dakota (; Sioux: , ) is a U.S. state in the North Central region of the United States. It is also part of the Great Plains. South Dakota is named after the Lakota and Dakota Sioux Native American tribes, who comprise a large po ...

, and cases in Wisconsin, Montana, Wyoming, Nebraska, Washington and North Dakota. On August 26, 6 cases were reported in New Hampshire. On August 27, over 20 cases were reported in Colorado. Two of the cases reported in

were people who had been Sturgis event employees or volunteers. On August 27, 2020, the results of mass testing in Sturgis became available. Out of 650 tests there were 26 positive results, all asymptomatic. As of August 28, 2020, 46 cases in Minnesota had been linked to the rally, including two hospitalizations, with one person in intensive care. An additional cluster of secondary transmission from the rally was identified at a wedding. The number of infections increased substantially although health authorities suspected the real number could be far higher because many attendees refused to cooperate with contact tracers. On September 2, 2020, the first COVID-19 death related to the 2020 Sturgis rally was reported in Minnesota. A paper by economist Dhaval Dave and colleagues at IZA Institute of Labor Economics estimated the number of cases that could have been caused by the 2020 rally, at which few attendees wore masks, could have infected 267,000 and result in $12.2 billion in health care costs."Sturgis biker rally adds 267,000 COVID cases and $12.2B in health costs, report says"
''

Kansas City Star ''The Kansas City Star'' is a newspaper based in Kansas City, Missouri. Published since 1880, the paper is the recipient of eight Pulitzer Prizes. ''The Star'' is most notable for its influence on the career of President Harry S. Truman and ...

'', Katie Camero, September 8, 2020. Retrieved September 11, 2020. A partnership between ''

Slate Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. It is the finest grained foliated metamorphic rock. ...

'' magazine, New America, and

Arizona State University Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public research university in the Phoenix metropolitan area. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, ASU is one of the largest public universities by enrollment in the ...

, questioned the methodology and thereby contested the findings of the study. The ''Slate'' analysis did find the IZA estimates for Meade County, South Dakota, between 177 and 195 cases, to be consistent with the raw data. South Dakota governor Kristi Noem said the study was "fiction," and an "attack on those who exercised their personal freedom to attend Sturgis...Predictably, some in the media breathlessly report on this non-peer-reviewed model, built on incredibly faulty assumptions that do not reflect the actual facts and data here in South Dakota." State epidemiologist Joshua Clayton stated, "From what we know the results do not align with what we know." By September 8, 2020, South Dakota reported 124 residents had become ill after attending the rally. On November 20, 2020 the

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is the national public health agency of the United States. It is a United States federal agency, under the Department of Health and Human Services, and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georg ...

(CDC) identified 51 people from Minnesota who were infected at the 2020 rally and another 35 who got secondary infections from attendees; four of the 86 were hospitalized and one died. Researchers noted that the actual figures were probably higher since many people who attended the rally refused to speak to them. They also pointed out that the study only involved one state, although rally attendees came from across the country. Concerns about virus transmission appeared again before the 2021 rally, expected to draw 700,000 visitors. The City of Sturgis planned to make 15-minute self test kits for SARS‑CoV‑2 available during the 2021 rally.

Transportation to Sturgis

Shipping companies transport thousands of motorcycles to Sturgis for attendees who arrive via airline.

Media coverage

Print and online

The '' Rapid City Journal'' features daily coverage of the Sturgis Rally. The ''

Seattle Times ''The Seattle Times'' is a daily newspaper serving Seattle, Washington, United States. It was founded in 1891 and has been owned by the Blethen family since 1896. ''The Seattle Times'' has the largest circulation of any newspaper in Washington st ...

'' covered some of the 2008 Sturgis Rally while rock band Judd Hoos was playing at the Loud American Roadhouse. All Gas No Brakes covered the 2020 rally.

Television

In 1997, notable attendees at the rally included the crew from the television series '' COPS'', and basketball player

Dennis Rodman Dennis Keith Rodman (born May 13, 1961) is an American former professional basketball player. Known for his fierce defensive and rebounding abilities, his biography on the official NBA website states that he is "arguably the best reboundin ...

. From 1996 to 1999,

World Championship Wrestling World Championship Wrestling, Inc. (WCW) was an American professional wrestling promotion founded by Ted Turner in 1988, after Turner Broadcasting System, through a subsidiary named Universal Wrestling Corporation, purchased the assets of Nati ...

held a

pay-per-view Pay-per-view (PPV) is a type of pay television or webcast service that enables a viewer to pay to watch individual events via private telecast. Events can be purchased through a multichannel television platform using their electronic program g ...

event called Road Wild ( Hog Wild for the 1996 event). Sturgis was featured in Season 7, Episode 13 of ''

King of the Hill ''King of the Hill'' is an American animated sitcom created by Mike Judge and Greg Daniels for the Fox Broadcasting Company. It aired its original non-syndicated run from January 12, 1997, to September 13, 2009, and centers on the Hills, an Am ...

'', "Queasy Rider". The episode features Hank and Peggy buying a motorcycle to rekindle their marriage and traveling to the event. Television coverage of the festival by the VH1 Classic network includes interviews and performances as well as rock music videos from the Buffalo Chip Campground. The rally was featured in 2005 as part of the

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

SportsCenter ''SportsCenter'' (SC) is a daily sports news television program that serves as the flagship program and brand of American cable and satellite television network ESPN. The show covers various sports teams and athletes from around the world and o ...

'' promotion '' 50 States in 50 Days''. Starting in 2009 an American

reality television series Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring unfamiliar people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early ...

began airing on the

truTV TruTV (stylized as truTV) is an American basic cable channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The channel primarily broadcasts comedy, docusoaps and reality shows. The channel was originally launched in 1991 as Court TV, a network that ...

network: ''

Full Throttle Saloon ''Full Throttle Saloon'' is an American reality television series that premiered on November 10, 2009, and originally aired on truTV. The series chronicles the daily operations of the bar for which it is named − the Full Throttle Saloon in Stur ...

'', showing the inner operations at the world's largest biker bar just prior to the rally opening and for the duration of the rally each year. Sturgis was also featured on '' American Pickers'' Season 4, Episode 6, "What Happens In Sturgis ...". Originally aired January 2, 2012, on the History Channel. "... When Mike tells Frank let's pack up for a trip to South Dakota, Frank says he can't. He's secretly going to his 30th annual trip to the legendary Sturgis motorcycle rally, but says he'll cover the shop ...". List of American Pickers episodes Sturgis has also been featured in the TV Show ''

Pawn Stars ''Pawn Stars'' is an American reality television series shown on History and produced by Leftfield Pictures. The series is filmed in Las Vegas, Nevada, where it chronicles the daily activities at the World Famous Gold & Silver Pawn Shop, a 24 ...

'' in which

Richard Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from Old Frankish and is a compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' and ''*hardu-'' 'strong, brave, hardy', and it therefore means 'stro ...

and Corey Harrison visit Sturgis with Chumlee Russell on his birthday.

Gallery

File:Sturgis 2010 (1).jpg File:2005 Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, Granny in sidecar.jpg File:2008 Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, street at night.jpg

References

External links

* {{Coord, 44, 24, 52, N, 103, 30, 32, W, format=dms, display=title, type:event_region:US-SD Motorcycle rallies in the United States South Dakota culture Recurring events established in 1938 Tourist attractions in Meade County, South Dakota Black Hills August events Sturgis, South Dakota 1938 establishments in South Dakota Festivals established in 1938 Summer events in the United States