THE 80TH ANNIVERSARY STURGIS RALLY PANDEMIC BE DAMNED

STURGIS, SOUTH DAKOTA, AUG. 7-16-20 RIDERS FROM AROUND THE GLOBE HAVE RELIGIOUSLY MADE THE ANNUAL PILGRIMAGE TO SOUTH DAKOTA’S “CITY OF RIDERS” DURING THE RALLY’S EIGHT DECADES’ REIGN AS THE MOST FAMOUS BIKER BASH IN THE WORLD.

While the parties, concerts, races and riding are indeed legendary, it’s the landscape and spirituality of the Black Hills that make this rally the top contender when it comes to bucket list destinations.

No matter where a rider may bivouac or what kind of event schedule may be laid out, everyone who scoots into Sturgis comes with a must-do ride list and they set about the task of taking it all in with wild abandon. From the heads of Rushmore, through the Badlands, Deadwood, Spearfish Canyon, Custer and the Wildlife loop right on out to the Devil’s Tower in Wyoming, there is magic to be found along the roads well beyond the city limits of Sturgis.

All of this was taken into account as the City’s management sat down in June to ponder the possibility of cancelling the 2020 run due to the world-wide panic over the pandemic. They realized that invited or not, bikers would indeed flood their little berg come August. The safety of their residents was the agenda, of course, but the issue of economics was also a well-hashed topic. With shut down business, cancelled events and the earth generally tilted off its axis in world-wide upheaval, sponsor dollars had shriveled to nil as the industry danced around trying to figure out how brave attendees might be in the face of the COVID virus.