72nd Annual 2012 Sturgis Motorcycle Rally

It’s the county seat of not-so-urban Meade County and named after one General Samuel D. Sturgis, but Sturgis, South Dakota is really only all about being the home of the largest annual motorcycle event in the world.

Held during the first full week of August. Motorcycle hardcores from around the globe fire it up and roll into this generally snoozy burg in the middle of Nowhere USA for the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally.

And oh my, “rally” is a serious understatement for the sort of wretched, gasoline-fueled debauchery which goes on there every year like clockwork. On an average given week, there are only 6,627 people, 2,916 households, and 1,687 families hanging around in Sturgis. That amounts to a population density of 1661 people per square mile. Consider that the city of Chicago has some 12649 persons per square mile, and you get the drift.

During the rally, the population of Sturgis swells to something like that of your average New Delhi.

According to the South Dakota Department of Transportation, traffic during the official rally dates shows somewhere around 460,000 vehicles will roll into Sturgis during the the official dates of the rally. The locals say as many as 600,000 bikers will attend this year’s event, and they pay close attention to such numbers my brother.

During the Saturday and Sunday before the official Monday start of the rally, the count might be up more than the 17 percent it went up compared to the 2009-2010 stretch.

That’s a whole lot of bikers, hombre.

The following stats were provided by the Sturgis City Rally
Department, and is assumed to reflect the numbers that Sturgis
saw.