FatBob's biker rally reviews
Little Sturgis Rally & Races 2006. Sturgis, KY

Little Sturgis Rally & Races Sturgis, KY July 13-16th, 2006 A victim of their own success. Years ago Little Sturgis KY used to be all about the motorcycles & bikers. Now it's simply turned into the world's largest free for all tailgate party. The first thing you need to know about Little Sturgis is that the campgrounds are HUGE, with a vendor's area, dirt track & an air conditioned arena located AS FAR AS THEY CAN BE from the actual campgrounds. The campgrounds themselves consist of a paved road winding through several different open fields, with grass paths for vehicles marked off with little orange flags dividing up the camping areas. The problem? They pack about 25,000+ people in an area that can only comfortably hold only about 10,000. The gates to this festival open on thursday at 3pm. Now I know that this rally is always packed out so I decided to get there about an hour or so after the gates opened to avoid waiting in line, but still get there early enough to find a good camping spot. Man was I ever wrong. I pull up to the little bitsy tiny town of Sturgis, KY around 4pm just as planned. Except I couldn't actually get TO the town, as traffic was backed up about 5-6 miles down the ONE & ONLY road that leads there. After 2-3 hours of sitting on the road and inching may way forward in bumper to bumper traffic I finally made it to the fairgrounds, relieved as hell that I was finally there. But wait, instead of just letting people drive up to the gate & pay the entry fee they have this huge ''holding field'' where for some reason everyone has to line up in BEFORE they let you hit the gate & finally enter the rally grounds. So after a couple more hours of waiting in this big field in front of the one & only entry gate I finally make it in. The campgrounds were already about 80% full, and of course the only camping areas left are way in the back. Now remember, I got there a mere HOUR after the gates opened, and it's still only thursday night. All through the night and into the wee hours of the morning people kept rolling in. By the time I woke up on friday morning the campgrounds were already overflowing. There's nothing like being woken up at 8am by your neighbor 3 tents down yellin' and screaming at some guy because he got hemmed in during the night and now he can't get his SUV out. Boohoo... should'a rode your bike buddy. Hmmm... speaking of bikes... cars, trucks, SUV's, campers & RV's are certainly the majority here. I would guess maybe a third of the people there actually rode a motorcycle of some kind, and the other 2/3'rds... don't even own one? Left if parked in the garage at home? I Don't know. I Don't care. Just tellin' it like it was. The organised entertainement for the weekend consisted of a couple of bands playing and some biker rodeo games... but they're almost completely sequestered off from the campgrounds. As a matter of fact hardly anyone pays any of it any attention at all. They must have had 25,000+ people at this (rally? No, festival is more like it), and only about 3-400 actually showed up for the rodeo games & bands. And I think the only reason they walked all the way down to the arena is because it has air conditioning. If it weren't for that I sort of doubt anybody would have even bothered to check it out. As you may have guessed by now the REAL entertainment and the reason that everyone goes is for the giant tailgate party in the campgrounds. Walking around you will see inumerable ''show your titties'' signs, free breast finger painting stands, enterprising fellows with portable DJ's booth's, sound systems and gogo poles set up here & there and just about anything & everything else imaginable. I even saw a huge homemade slip'n slide setup on the side of a hill. And everywhere you go is to the sound of ''show your titties'' and the sounds of beads flying through the air. Security is... keeping people moving on the main paved road that runs through the campgrounds. Pissed off people, shoving & yelling matches & even the odd fight are smattered throughout the weekend although really not THAT bad. The ambulances seem to be going pretty well all the time, picking up people that have either fall off their bikes or been hit by someone who was. And of course everywhere you go you walk, walk, walk... or inch your way through bumper to bumper traffic. Honestly I really didn't have a very good time. There are just TOO MANY people at this festival for me, but it IS one huge, wild and barely controlled tailgate party. To each his own I guess... I give it a 8/10 beer can rating because I did see 20,000 people having a great time, and about 5,000+ or so looking like they were hating life. Make's you wonder why them 5,000 even bothered to go. ---------------------- Campground Description : Very large, located adjacent to the Sturgis, KY local airport. Some shade, most camping areas out in the open. Paved road runs through the campgrounds with grass, dirt or gravel paths to the different camp areas. No free showers, $5 a pop pay showers. Very long walk to vendors area (over a mile from some locations in the campgrounds) so you may want to pack your own food and drinks. Vendor area, band arena and dirt drag strip all clustered together in one single corner. Arena IS air conditioned. No water or electrical hookups available in the camping areas. --------------------- Entry : $40 for the entire weekend, includes primitive camping. Bikes enter free. additional $40 fee per vehicle that is NOT a motorcycle. Adults only, 18 or better to enter. ID may be required. Their web sit says NO NUDITY. Don't be fooled, and don't bring your kids to this one. Primitive Camping on Site $5 Showers on location Live Bands : Iron Horse Bad Company. King's Cave Blackfoot Stuff to do : Poker Run Bike Show Field Events Dirt Drags Contests : Pudding Wrestling. That's it!