Sturgis 2022: Where to Stay During the Rally? Baymont by Wyndham Hotel in Sturgis

Indian Ed Spilker, One of the original Jackpine gypsies and cofounder of the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally
The first rally was held by Indian Motorcycle riders on August 14, 1938, by the Jackpine Gypsies motorcycle club. 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 in 1997. Hoel was inducted into the AMA Hall of Fame the following year.

The focus of a motorcycle rally was originally racing and stunts. 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.

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.

Year SDDOT traffic count Official attendance

2019 490,000
2020 445,000
2021 555,000
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.

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."

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, given the expected impact on emergency services.
There have been a few deaths at the Rally