Rally

Car & Automotive

2021 Sturgis Motorcycle Rally generates $1.75 million in tax revenue | Local

By Matthew A. Garcia 2 weeks ago

traffic — Traffic backs up at a stoplight on Lazelle Street in Sturgis during the 2021 Sturgis Motorcycle Rally.

Grace Pritchett / Journal staff

Shannon Marvel
Journal staff

The 2021 Sturgis Motorcycle Rally tax collections are currently at $1.75 million, according to a news release from the Department of Revenue.

“The revenue sum from temporary vendors in the Black Hills is a 34% increase compared to 2020,” the release states. “The state sales tax accounted for the majority of the collections with $1,038,561. At this time last year, the department collected $785,251 in state sales tax. The department’s 2021 collections also include $334,661 in the state tourism tax and $422,484 in municipal taxes.”

At this time in 2019, tax collections totaled $1.2 million with $733,312 of that amount coming from state sales tax collections. In 2015, the tax revenue from the rally totaled $2.4 million.

The number of temporary vendors this year

Car & Automotive

How much impact could Sturgis rally have on COVID caseload?

By Matthew A. Garcia 3 weeks ago

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — Rumbles from the motorcycles and rock shows of the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally have hardly cleared from the Black Hills of South Dakota, and the reports of COVID-19 infections among rallygoers are already streaming in — 178 cases across five states, according to contact tracers.

In the three weeks since the rally kicked off, coronavirus cases in South Dakota have shot up at a startling pace — sixfold from the early days of August. While it is not clear how much rallygoers spread the virus through secondary infections, state health officials have so far reported 63 cases among South Dakota residents who attended the event.

The epicenter of the rally, Meade County, has become red-hot with new cases, reaching a per capita rate that is similar to the hardest-hit Southern states. The county reported the highest rate of cases in the state over the last

Car & Automotive

COVID cases spike by more than 500% in weeks after Sturgis Bike rally in South Dakota

By Matthew A. Garcia 3 weeks ago

COVID-19 cases have spiked more than 500% in the weeks after hundreds of thousands of motorcyclists flocked to South Dakota for the famous Sturgis Bike Rally, which drew one of its largest crowds yet this year despite the fast-spreading delta variant.

The annual event kicked off in Meade County on Aug. 6 and wrapped on Aug. 15. Just two days before motorcycle enthusiasts descended on the state, South Dakota reported a total of 657 active cases.

Motorcycles fill the streets of Sturgis, S.D on Friday, Aug. 6, 2021 as the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally began. (Stephen Groves/)

As of Friday, there were 3,992 people battling infections across South Dakota, with an average of 243 new cases and 123 hospitalizations daily. Meade County, home to Sturgis, has counted 330 new cases in the last

Car & Automotive

Warnings About the Sturgis Rally Have Come Tragically True

By Matthew A. Garcia 3 weeks ago

Photo Illustration by The Daily Beast / Photos Getty

In western South Dakota’s Meade County, more than one in three COVID-19 tests are currently returning positive, and over the last three weeks, seven-day average case counts have increased by 3,400 percent. This exponential growth in cases is likely attributable to the 81st Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, which drew an estimated half a million visitors to Meade County and its environs from Aug. 6 through 15, potentially acting as a superspreader event.

The pandemic is surging nationally, not just proximal to biker chaos in South Dakota. Defined in large part by the emergence of the highly transmissible Delta variant, the United States is experiencing its fourth surge of COVID-19 right now, and our nationwide case counts have increased by 64.4 percent over the last 21 days. (For more on our methodology, see our note at the bottom of this