Vulgarity and objectification of women are a big part of the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally:
So one would think that having public discourse dominated by the vulgar and misogynist Donald Trump would build the Sturgis psych-brand. Alas for Sturgis and South Dakota’s ever-inviting slots and sales tax coffers (ah, that’s the metaphor of the billboard…), Sturgis Rally traffic is in a four-year slump. The Department of Transportation’s final traffic counts show that vehicles entering Sturgis decreased 1.2% from last year, to 499,654:
We may not need to reach for the political to explain waning attendance at Sturgis. It could just be that Baby Boomers are getting too old to ride or even fuss with the trailer while modern riders, to the extent that they are still connecting with motorcycles at all, want smaller, more efficient, more practical daily two-wheeled transportation instead of bloated symbols of their ability to consume.
I’m puzzled by two (probably a lot more, overall) things about the rally.
-Does Cory want the rally to grow, stay the same, or go away?
-Same question for the populace of SD.
-Because, I have a foolproof way to grow the rally by a large increment the first couple years and a modest increment, thereafter.
You know, based on my time in Rapid, I would say most people tolerated it, barely. The clinking clanking sound of money partly muffled the grating sounds of Harley’s. A good number of people leave for a couple weeks, renting their houses for big bucks. I think a few would like it bigger, but most would prefer it be smaller, but not go away.
Bikers (baby boomers) are aging. Go there and you see more people over 50 then you do people under 50. H-D sales are in a major decline. Unless younger people start buying bikes, the decline will likely continue.
The economy sucks, it’s that simple. Put dumb arse republicans in charge and you get an economy that is starting to look more and more like Putin’s. Harley Davidson’s are just like DeSoto’s, a lot of fin to go along with a serious oil patch.
As it pertains to the billboard leading into this article, from what I have regularly seen on I-90 “vulgarity and objectification of women are a big part” of the advertising plan for Cadillac Jacks year round. The rally seems nothing more than a convenient vehicle for another example of this marketing theme.
“vulgarity and objectification of women are a big part” of the Rally and why sexual crimes and domestic violence in the Hills skyrocket that week. See the sex sting post.
Glad that you have a fool proof idea to increase the rally, do keep it to yourself.
Harley said tariffs on aluminum and steel raised the price of a new bike about $2500. And maybe moar as production was shipped overseas.
Careful what you ask for, SD. Remember during the Day’s of 76, before gambling, when the Angels and the Son’s came to Deadwood the week before the rally? I saw 75 or more Hell’s Angels park their scoots on the main street hill, pull all the plugs and drain the crankcases right onto the street. A greasy, California oil slick ran down the mountain for blocks. That’s marking territory, pilgrims.
Sturgis was Sturgis, in those days. It was a lawless pit of murder, rape, and hard drug abuse. Not any more. Bikers don’t come any more. Only motorcycle enthusiasts and that’s a fad and fad’s die quick.
Porter, are the Hell’s Angels and other “bikers” in the classic outlaw sense of the term still out there? Or are they aging out just like the Baby Boomer “motorcycle enthusiasts”?
I don’t mind the Rally or any other effort that brings people to enjoy our state and help us get rich. I do mind events that rely on deceptive advertising appeals to our less savory impulses and that promote unhealthy behavior.
I also recognize that promoting tourism in the Black Hills means balancing our desire to welcome visitors, enjoy the outdoors, and make money with the need to protect the natural beauty that makes the Black Hills worth visiting… not to mention dealing with the historical moral conflict of working hard to bring more invaders to the ground that we conquistadors stole from the Lakota people who hold that land sacred.
Cory & Porter, FYI during a couple of hours on Main Street I saw several individuals at the rally this year wearing Hells Angel’s colors. If I am not mistaken that club also purchased a campground site in Sturgis several years that is still in use for only club members.
I also saw many other individuals wearing colors from several other biker groups waliking and riding along Main Street.
So what do they do? Why be a Hell’s Angel? I mean, they aren’t just a social club, right? What do they do, and are they a growing organization? And do we want to encourage them to come here and spend lots of time and money in our fair state?
Hunter Thompson wrote about the Hell’s Angels. Here is his 186 page take on them in an apparently a free pdf file:
https://toleratedindividuality.files.wordpress.com/2015/10/hells-angels-a-strange-and-terrible-saga.pdf
The Hells Angels of today are somewhat similar to those of Hunter Thompson’s day, but they’ve evolved. Now, they bear more resemblance to the Mafia. Some are pretty smart, but most are as stupid and brutal as Mafia chore guys. They are involved in sophisticated organized crime.
No, Cory. The Angels aren’t just a social club. They’re an organized crime family.
What do they do? They sell drugs, pimp whores, and commit murder for hire.
Do we want to encourage them to come here? Whaaaaa??
One correction Porter. They pimp girls, women and possibly some boys and men too. Probably none of them started out saying, “I want to be a prostitute.”
Are those organized criminals keeping up with the Mexican drug cartels and other big players? And does having motorcycles help their organized crime business model? Does identifying as bikers give them any advantage in the (black) marketplace?
A decided advantage in debt collection.
Current abilities of federal, state and local law enforcement and the criminal court system raise doubts about the factual accuracy of stories that as a group the Hells Angels,
These days most law enforcement agencies have the ability to find, arrest and prosecute individuals engaging in such activities. If a single organization regularly committed such crimes it would be unusually easy for law enforcement to identify and prosecute perpetrators.
While it is true that individual members of the Hell’s Angels have committed such crimes and were caught and successfully prosecuted, it seems likely that if the group as a whole were involved in such criminal activity there would have been successful RICO prosecutions in any state where the Hell’s Angels had a charter. Apparently in 2012 or 2013 sixteen individual members of a South Carolina Hell’s Angel group were convicted of engaging in “drug dealing, money laundering, firearms trafficking, violent crimes, attempted armed robbery, arson, and other offenses.” But that was the only RICO prosecution of Hell’s Angels in the US that I found, which seems odd if the group as whole regularly conducts such criminal endeavors.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hells_Angels_MC_criminal_allegations_and_incidents