Sturgis Rally Official Stats

As a Black Hills Resident and one that enjoys motorcyles, I must say that it gets exciting once the sound of motorcycles start to fill the hills! Of course, all is said and done for this year's rally, and when it is all over, there's something nice about the way the hills return back to the nice, peaceful, serene atmosphere!

Official reports from the state of South Dakota are in and gross sales of vendors were down about 15 percent! And the revenues from sales and tourism taxes were down 18% for the Northern Hills area, which include Sturgis. Gross vendor sales in the Northern Hills totaled $12,591,397 which was down by almost 3 million from the year before.

There were a lot of unofficial estimates during the rally that attendance was down from last years rally. And as a personal observer, I felt they were! It just didn't seem as though there were as many bikes on the road this year.

Official figures from the state Department of Transportation highway counters will be available next week.

For more information on Rapid City and the Black Hills email us at serres@rap.midco.net.