World’s largest motorcycle rally roars into Sturgis as bikers flood tiny U.S. town

The annual Sturgis Motorcycle Rally is officially underway, with hundreds of thousands of riders descending on the small South Dakota town and surrounding Black Hills regions for the 86th edition of what’s billed as the world’s largest motorcycle rally.

The rally is held annually for ten days in August and involves races, concerts and group rides and typically draws about 500,000 attendees to Sturgis, population 7,100.

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During the rally, Sturgis is transformed as motorcycles pack downtown streets and riders fan out across the Black Hills. The event extends far beyond the city itself, with concerts, races, stunt shows, motorcycle demonstrations, vendor exhibitions and organized rides taking place throughout the region.

This year’s headliner is country star Lainey Wilson, who is set to perform August 12. Other acts on the concert schedule include YUNGBLUD, Megadeth, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Rob Zombie and Insane Clown Posse.

Two long-distance women’s motorcycle rides – the Women Riders World Relay and Shantell’s Sisterhood Ride – will conclude at the Sturgis Motorcycle Museum & Hall of Fame’s second-annual Pearl’s Jam event, which celebrates women in motorcycling.

Harley-Davidson announced it would be debuting its new Deadwood motorcycle at this year’s event, "a new model inspired in part by the post-war history of the Sturgis Rally," reported Motor Sports NewsWire.

Indian Motorcycle is also introducing a new bike.

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"The new Indian Chief Vintage Sturgis SD Edition celebrates Indian’s place in the rally’s history with special paint and badging inspired by Indians of the 1930s," reported Rider Magazine. "It features a classic two-tone Indian Motorcycle Red and Cream paint with a multicolored Indian Motorcycle headdress logo."

The rally also serves as a jumping-off point for motorcycle rides throughout the Black Hills, with visitors venturing to Mount Rushmore National Memorial, Custer State Park, Badlands National Park, Wind Cave National Park and Bear Butte State Park, along with historic towns such as Deadwood.

One other attraction Sturgis goes frequently visit is Devils Tower National Monument in Wyoming, a particularly popular motorcycle destination from the Black Hills.

The Sturgis Rally was started by Indian dealer Pappy Hoel in 1938, according to the official Sturgis Rally website.

"Pappy was the man who put the brotherhood in motorcycles," Coe Meyer, a Sturgis motorcycle historian, told Fox News Digital previously. "He’s the reason so many people come here today."

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Hoel’s marketing ingenuity, enthusiasm for motorcycle racing and — unbeknownst to many — his paternal fondness for America’s World War II veterans struggling with the mental wounds of combat made Sturgis synonymous with motorcycles, Fox News Digital reported.

"He was like a P.T. Barnum-type character. He always had a trick up his sleeve," said Vinny Terranova, who knew Hoel and his wife Pearl and who operates their original Junction Avenue motorcycle shop today as Pappy’s Vintage Cycles.

"He loved motorcycles, loved racing and loved motorcyclists," said Terranova of Pappy Hoel. "He and Pearl always had a pot of beans and franks on the grill. Nobody left hungry."

The Hoels ran the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally for nearly 50 years, before turning it over to the City of Sturgis in the 1980s.

Kerry J. Byrne contributed reporting.