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Sturgis Rally On, Brown County Fair Off

The Sturgis City Council voted 8–1 last night to proceed with the 80th Sturgis Motorcycle Rally as scheduled, but with a little less hoopla:

The COVID-19 pandemic version of the Rally will have no opening ceremonies, no B-1 fly-over Main Street, and no bands or contests at Harley-Davidson Rally Point. But it will have hand sanitation stations on Main Street as well as a nightly disinfecting of the downtown sidewalks.

Almost all the changes are meant to discourage large gatherings of people on city property, said Sturgis City Manager Daniel Ainslie. That hopefully will lessen the spread of the coronavirus [“Sturgis Motorcycle Rally a Go,” Black Hills Pioneer, 2020.06.15].

Even without coronavirus, the Rally sidewalks could surely use some disinfecting… not to mention the sidewalkers.

The council could have gone with the wishes of 63% of residents and postponed the Rally, but this way the city retains some regulatory authority over the pillaging hordes who will come come heck or high infection rates:

The option, one of four, the council approved would allow the city to put the residents’ safety first while continuing planning the 80th Rally, according to city manager Daniel Ainslie’s report.

…“We must be prepared to manage the number of people that do attend,” Ainslie said during the meeting.

…Ainslie said having the Rally would allow the city to make guidelines for vendors, including social distancing and sanitizing. If the city canceled it, they wouldn’t be able to set those guidelines [Sindhara Bonnet, “Sturgis City Council Decides 80th Rally Is On,” Rapid City Journal, updated 2020.06.16].

Meanwhile, an event with a third to a half the attendance of the Rally is off… sort of. The Brown County Commission voted this morning to postpone the Brown County Fair, which was scheduled for August 10–16, the same week as the Rally. Brown County Fair Board members said at a meeting yesterday that they were sticking by their recommendation that holding the Fair in August is a bad idea. Someone in the Fair office staff has caught covid-19, so they are shorthanded right now to plan even a limited event. The Brown County Commission said this morning it will take proposals for small events to give folks something to do that week, but with coronavirus making vendors, volunteers, and tourists uneasy, it’s anyone’s guess where you’ll find enough people to make some big fair-like event viable.

16 Comments

  1. Donald Pay 2020-06-16 13:20

    From Cory’s blog: …“We must be prepared to manage the number of people that do attend,” Ainslie said during the meeting.

    Yeah, I suppose that’s true. The dumb crowd may decide to come no matter what. Still, you can send out a message that various protocols will be undertaken, and they will be strictly enforced. Follow the example of the tribes and set up roadblocks to take temperatures and provide information. Require masks be worn in the city limits to protect workers and other rally goers. Promote social distancing.

  2. leslie 2020-06-16 14:25

    What did RC council decide last night about opening up?

  3. leslie 2020-06-16 14:55

    Cory for the life of me i cant find Kristi’s ego piece w/Federalist yuppie editor who drove over the Rockies misinterpreting all he saw and heard, to kneel before our beauty queen in peer, to post this twit link:

    Will Sommer
    @willsommer
    ·
    17m
    Google has banned conservative website The Federalist from its ad platform

  4. Loren 2020-06-16 14:58

    leslie, the rules in RC are that there are no rules. We are open for bidness. Can’t wait for the Rally. !@#%^&*

  5. leslie 2020-06-16 15:14

    Wow no wonder ther has been no reporting out about how last night’s proposed vote went. True colors of mayor snd republican majority. Conscious decision to sacrifice marginal lives for employers profits. Dr Ajah Harvard Global Health/Brown Univ Pub Health Dir predicts 400k dead by spring.

  6. jerry 2020-06-16 16:27

    Remember, the virus follows the highways and especially, the interstates. The tribes are gonna have to deputize a whole lot of folks to man the check points and while doing so, be extra cautious.

    I-90 from Sioux Falls to Spearfish with all points in between are gonna be hit hard. The people who bring this virus with them will be one thing, but the local yokels (us’ins) are gonna be the ones filling up the local hospitals. All of those gas stations, C stores, local watering holes and cafe’s, not to hard to predict the outcome of all of this.

  7. grudznick 2020-06-16 17:46

    This is good news about the biker rallying. There are many good things that can come of this.

  8. jerry 2020-06-16 17:57

    Really? Name one.

  9. jerry 2020-06-16 18:02

    Lovely, one health care worker bar hopping in Jacksonville, Florida. What could go wrong?https://crooksandliars.com/cltv/2020/06/woman-15-friends-all-test-postive

    Mr. grudnick, get on your three wheeler and ride baby. Slouch tall with the fellers and remember, you used to be a young rebel. Now bikers are fat old guys that are not rebels, they just wear dirty clothes.

  10. mike from iowa 2020-06-16 19:38

    Zerohedge got the ax, as well as well. Back to business…..

    drumpf body count for today…

    Deaths:
    119,132

  11. Debbo 2020-06-16 20:51

    “Even without coronavirus, the Rally sidewalks could surely use some disinfecting… not to mention the sidewalkers.”

    That’s funny.

    Maybe Brown County can still hold the 4-H competitions only.

  12. John 2020-06-16 21:18

    Likely the “start of school” may be exciting 2-3 weeks after the unnecessary rally.

  13. leslie 2020-06-16 23:03

    Oh but the economy. Sx Falls Harley says they make lots in servicing broken hogs and selling t-shirts. The next big thing. We have calculated that 200,000 dead by sept/october, 300,000 over winter and 400,000 by nxt spring, when a vax will be ready, if..,are acceptable losses, i guess because trump already killed 50-60,000 unnecessarily.

  14. marvin kammerer 2020-06-17 10:02

    thanks to some, there won’t be a B-1 overflight.sooner or later there will be a terrible accident ,.weapons of war have no business being used as entertainment !!

  15. mike from iowa 2020-06-17 10:33

    Overflights are dumb and wasteful and serve no purpose.

  16. jerry 2020-06-17 13:40

    And the beat goes on. “Pennington County reported the second highest one-day total of new coronavirus cases Wednesday as the total for the state climbed above 6,000. South Dakota added 84 new cases according to Wednesday’s State Health Department daily report.” Rapid City Journal 6.17.20

    Did someone say that with the sunlight, the virus disappears. Must be real dark and cloudy of over all of South Dakota. The failed governor of South Dakota and her supporters, are destroying the state.

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