Attendance was estimated at 466,769, an increase of 5.6% from the 69th Rally. Attendance is calculated by a formula which considers tons of garbage hauled during Rally, vendor licenses issued, SD sales tax collected, motorcycle counts at Mount Rushmore, and DOT traffic counts.

How did these benchmarks fare for the 70th Rally? The tons of garbage hauled increased 3.2%, the vendor licenses issued by Sturgis increased 9.3%, those issued by Meade County increased 26.1%, the DOT traffic counts (which include sites around Sturgis and around the Black Hills and the state) increased 16.7%, the taxable sales reported from temporary vendors increased 12.7%, and the State of SD sales tax collected increased 13%, as did the City of Sturgis sales tax and the vendor fee revenue while the state tourism tax (charged on motel rooms and food among other items) increased 13.1%. The Sturgis city rental property revenue increased 29.8% and sponsorship revenue increased 28.7%.

The only decreases were in the sanitation fee revenue which decreased 8.1% and the motorcycle traffic count at Mount Rushmore which decreased 14.5%, although Mount Rushmore achieved its largest single-day attendance record on Tuesday, August 17, with 17,600 visitors (after Rally’s official end). The average percentage variance of all these changes was 5.6% which was then used to multiply the estimated attendance from 2009, to arrive at 2010’s estimated attendance of 466,769.

Sturgis also conducted a survey during the 2010 Sturgis Motorcycle Rally and they received 5,694 responses.

The survey indicated that 69% of those attending are ages 41 to 65 with 38% ages 41 to 53. Seventy-five percent are returning visitors with 40% visiting 6 to 25 times. Sixty-five percent begin planning their visit to Sturgis 6 to 12 months before their visit with 39% beginning their planning 12 months prior. Fifty-four percent stay in the area 3 to 6 days with 62% staying 5 to 10 or more days, for an average weighted stay of 7 days. Seventy-one percent spend more than $100 each day in the area with 31% spending more than $200 per day. (Seventeen percent spend less than $100 per day.) The weighted average spending each day was $250.

Forty-five percent get their information about the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally from the Rally website (with 63% using either the Rally or the City websites) while 44% get their information word-of-mouth. Sixty percent of Rally visitors earn more than $51,000 annually with 38% earning more than $76,000 annually. One in five visitors earns more than $100,000 annually. There was a fairly even dispersion among job classifications with 27% working in the professional or technical classifications. The majority of visitors were from the Midwest, Great Plains, and Rocky Mountain states. Sixty-nine percent of visitors ride Harley-Davidson motorcycles.

Using all of this data, the City of Sturgis has calculated that the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally has an $816,893,000 total economic impact annually on the city of Sturgis, the Black Hills, and the State of South Dakota. For more information on the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally Statistics, the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally Report, or the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally Survey results, contact the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally Department at 605-720-0800 or visit www.sturgismotorcyclerally.com or www.sturgis-sd.gov.