When an event takes over your town

Once a year the town of Sturgis, South Dakota, goes from 6,500 to over 500,000. That's when the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally takes over the town. As the article below indicates, it's become the main economic driver of the community.

The event has also become a massive music festival, Rock'N The Rally. This year's performers at the Festival and at the Buffalo Chip include:

Sammy Hagar, Big and Rich With Cowboy Troy, Keith Urban, Shooter Jennings, Steve Miller Band, Cheap Trick, Nickelback, Black Crowes, Gin Blossoms, Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers, Joe Cocker, Georgia Satellites, REO Speedwagon, 38 Special, John Kay, Steppenwolf. Joe Walsh and the rest of the original James Gang, Edgar Winter, Alice Cooper, Billy Idol, Foreigner, Montgomery Gentry, George Thorogood and the Destroyers, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Gretchen Wilson, Kid Rock, Blue Oyster Cult, Ted Nugent, Alice in Chains, and David Lee Roth.

Kansas City Star, 8/6/06: Legions of bikers thunder into Sturgis

"This is the 66th year of the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally...

"The bikers’ annual pilgrimage offers such a powerful financial charge that catering to the full-throttle crowd for a few weeks each year hollows out the town through all other seasons. Tiny storefronts in the not particularly scenic town can fetch nearly $1 million — and stand empty more than 11 months a year....

"The mayor, chiropractor and rally booster, Mark Zeigler, said the rally defines Sturgis. Mostly it’s a tremendous boon, but he concedes the drawbacks and the imperfect development that the rally leaves on Sturgis.

“'We tolerate a lot of inconvenience here,' he said. 'We look forward to the rally, but we’re glad when it’s over.'

"... the modern rally only became supersized in the past 20 years — growing from barely 30,000 bikers in the late 1980s to more than 500,000 scattered across the Black Hills this week.

"... In 1979, nine vendors set up booths for the rally. This year more than 900 are on hand. They’ll pay over $300,000 in fees to the city."