World’s largest motorcycle rally roars into Sturgis as bikers flood tiny US 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 10 days in August and involves races, concerts and group rides and typically draws about 500,000 attendees to Sturgis, population 7,100.

During the rally, Sturgis is transformed as motorcycles pack downtown streets and riders fan out across the Black Hills. 

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.