Future Sturgis Motorcycle Rally Dates
June 26, 2019

Contact: Christina Steele
June 26, 2019 Public Information Officer
(605)347-4422 ext. 6 csteele@sturgisgov.com

Future Sturgis Motorcycle Rally Dates

STURGIS, SD - In response to inquiries regarding the dates of the 2020 Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, the event will officially begin on Friday, August 7 and will end on Sunday, August 16, 2020.

In October of 2016, the Sturgis City Council made the decision to approve a resolution to standardize the Rally start dates. The resolution determined that all future Sturgis Motorcycle Rallies would begin on the first Friday of August and would run for 10-days. The previous official event dates were only for 7-days and were complicated to describe.

According to City Manager Daniel Ainslie, in the years leading up to the 2016 change, the City received many requests from area tourist destinations asking the City to avoid having the Rally begin in July, during the prime family tourist season throughout the state. Various cities and government agencies also expressed a preference to having the event begin in August to allow for a longer construction season.

The first Friday rule has been in place since 2016. It is important that only correct information regarding official start dates be used when promoting the Sturgis Rally event. Upcoming dates are published on the official City of Sturgis web page at www.sturgis-sd.gov, the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally web page at www.SturgisMotorcycleRally.com, and the Sturgis Rally Facebook page at www.facebook.com/sturgisrally. Unofficial social media and web sites are not controlled by the City of Sturgis and may contain misleading event information.

In 2019, the 79th Annual Sturgis Motorcycle Rally begins on Friday, August 2 and will run through Sunday, August 11, 2019.