Life in Sturgis

© Ken Bingenheimer / RumBum.com

As Sturgis, SD, Mayor Maury LaRue describes them, the Black Hills are “60 miles by 90 miles of good roads, three national monuments, and two state parks. It doesn’t get any better than that.” Little wonder then that every August hundreds of thousands of motorcyclists make a pilgrimage to Sturgis for the bike week rally that this year will celebrate its 70th year.

But what about the people who live in Sturgis? What is it like for residents of a 6,400-member community to become, for one week each year, the biggest city in the state? What is it like to have the roar of countless motorcycles, huge traffic jams, and demands on the town’s infrastructure that are 100 times more than a town of this size would normally face?

Dedi LaRue, Maury’s wife, laughs. “It’s not unlike other small towns hosting major events.”

Maury agrees. “It complicates a routine; you have to adapt.”

“You know the back streets to go to grocery store. You buy a little more, and shop earlier in the day,” his wife says.

But, “You just have to realize there are a lot of visitors but they'll be gone in 10 days. It’s not a forever deal. Then we’re back to 50 weeks of normal," Maury says.

Contrary to what you might expect, the LaRues say they do not live with a 24-hour roar during the rally.

“The house is closed up with the air conditioning running,” Maury says. “We don’t hear it. Plus, the city has put in enough stop signs so they (the bikers) can’t crank it out much, although the true reason for the stop signs is to allow cross traffic. The bikers are mostly downtown, not in the rest of the town, and three or four blocks off Main Street we have trees that create enough of a buffer that we don’t hear the bikes.”

Parking is a problem, however. Dedi, who works at a bank on Main Street, says she has no problem parking when she goes to work in the morning but, “It’s bedlam leaving. You have to plan ahead to get where you want to go.”

The trade-off for enduring the hassles caused by the rally is that Sturgis has facilities that would be an impossibility for a town this size without the rally.

“We have things most cities our size can't afford, such as parks and soccer complexes. It's because of the rally. We repave 30 blocks of city streets each year.”

Making A Living During the Rally

As the rally grew, out-of-town businesses started taking over the shops on Main Street, which then sat empty most of the year.

“For so many years it just looked dead,” says Kim Teigen, who, with her husband John, runs Scoop Town Creamery, a homemade ice cream business on Main Street. “We opened our business on Main because we want Main Street to become better.”

Unfortunately, she says, “Year-round businesses suffer to the benefit of outsiders just here for two weeks.”

For example, the Teigens opened their business in 2009 shortly before the rally.

“We had all the kinks out and were ready to roll when rally arrived. Business started out strong and we expected a big jump with the rally, but had a huge drop instead.”

The problem was that their landlord customarily rents out open space all around the building to vendors who set up their kiosks and tents, with the result that no one could see Scoop Town Creamery.

“Tents blocked the view of our shop and you had to know it was there to even be aware it existed. Tents blocked our sign, and you had to look straight at our door to see it.”

The Teigens sent their employees out on the sidewalk with free samples to direct customers to their store and used other methods of raising awareness but for them, the rally as a whole was a big disappointment. And they are not expecting much better this year but hope that by working with the city council they might be able to modify some ordinances that will improve the situation next year.

To be sure, Kim and John are not opposed to the rally.

“We love having the people here from all over the world. But the rally is scheduled for seven days; it shouldn't be much more, not the two or three weeks it is growing into.”

And like many Sturgis residents, they love the rally. Their home is five blocks up Junction Street from their shop which is at the corner of Main and Junction.

“We love seeing the bikes, colors, styles, etc., and the people on them. We sit out in our front yard and watch the parade. But by Friday we’re ready for everyone to go home.”

Still, says Kim, “I’m amazed at the lack of problems with 500,000 people coming to town. They come from all over and they’re just here for the love of biking.”