Total visitor numbers to the 81st Sturgis Motorcycle Rally soared to over half a million, despite the ongoing risk of it being a Covid super spreader event. The numbers fall short of the all-time record of nearly 750,000 in 2015 for the 75th Anniversary event but are higher than last year, the first year of the pandemic.

81st Sturgis Rally Comes to An End After Huge Attendance

The 81st Annual Sturgis Motorcycle Rally has come to an end after ten days of motorcycle-related partying and official figures released by the South Dakota Department of Transportation indicate that 525,000 visitors attended over the ten days, up from 462,000 last year, but well shy of the 747,000 visitors recorded back in 2015 for the 75th Anniversary bash.

However, there are fears that the event will act as a Covid super spreader event, just as last year's did. With cases in the US surging again, it's the last thing anyone needs.

Attendees who were interviewed repeated the same thing; nothing will stop them living their lives and attending an event that many have attended for years, if not decades. But that ignores the risk infected people pose to others who might be more at risk of death from the virus.

The rally is massively important for the local economy, generating more than $500 million in sales each year.

"People come here because they're free of all that unnecessary political government control exercised over their lives," said Rod Woodruff, owner of the Sturgis Buffalo Chip campground about three miles outside the city.

Woodruff said he was not aware of a single Covid-19 case traced back to the rally.

"All these people here ... know all the crap, all the baloney that has gone back and forth about how dangerous all this unseen stuff is and the viruses," he said. "Everybody's aware of all that and they have assumed the risk of getting out of their home and getting away and going someplace else and hanging out with people that are like-minded."

However you choose to look at it, Sturgis 2021 was a massive success in financial terms. Only time will tell whether it has been a disaster in other ways.