Sturgis businesses gear up for the Motorcycle Rally less than a month away

STURGIS, S.D. — With the beginning of the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally less than a month away, changes can be seen throughout the city of Sturgis.

Shops are renting out spaces, vendors are popping up — all the yearly activities that come before the event.

Along with changes in Sturgis, some locals have seen changes to the rally over the years.

“Times are different. We’ve seen a lot of different changes and people that do come to the rally and normally it was just a week long, but now we’re seeing it lasting about three weeks,” Vinny Terranova, a Sturgis business owner said.

Businesses, especially on Main Street, tend to get more foot traffic and sales during the rally.

Some places, like the Motorcycle museum, have a number of projects that are being worked on leading up to and even following the event — like the official rally publication that’s produced by the museum, the City of Sturgis and the Chamber of Commerce.

“We’re looking to finalize our rally vendor spaces here on the property, to update and refresh some of our exhibits and get ready for all the visitors. And of course our hall of fame breakfast is the big project for us right now,” Paul Johnson, President of the Sturgis Motorcycle Museum Board of Directors said. 

Some places like Sturgis Photo and Gifts may have hired employees recently while others might be struggling with unemployment rates, like much of the country.

The Motorcycle Museum hasn’t had to worry as much about that issue.

“We’re actually very fortunate that we are fully staffed at the moment and we’ve got a great team in place. During the rally, we typically use volunteers from the Christian Motorcycle Organization and others,” Johnson said. “They’ve been very kind to donate their time and come and help us as greeters and ambassadors for the museum and also to help us on the property and in our parking lot.”

With plenty of space available for people, businesses are looking forward to the Rally, hoping people enjoy the shows and coming back the following years.

The Hall of Fame Breakfast Ceremony will be during the Rally at 8:30 a.m., August 10, at the Lodge in Deadwood. Tickets are $55, but are limited and can be purchased on the Sturgis Museum’s website. The museum will also have a number of admission discounts during the rally — including group, senior citizens and veterans.

Activities, schedules and more information about the rally can be found here.