I definitely stood out in the crowd with the camera and as one of the few people in town wearing a face mask. Most of the bar activities and shows did take place in open air environments or outside during the rally. South Dakota has no laws regarding mandatory face coverings or indoor crowd size limits.

I didn’t know what to expect this year as I arrived to cover the rally in photos but I was met with mostly happy people and a welcoming attitude everywhere that I went. Comedian Andrew Dice Clay also pulled out the day of his performance at Full Throttle Saloon. It just felt like too big of a risk to take for the band and crew. I spoke to Mixi Demner, lead singer of Stitched Up Heart, before I left for the rally and learned the band had decided to cancel their appearance at Iron Horse Saloon because some of their crew have pre-existing heart conditions and there were some concerns for fans that were planning to attend the show with their entire families. Several of the bands that were originally scheduled to perform had canceled their performances out of concerns for safety for their fans since masks and social distancing was not going to be enforced during the rally. Attendance was down a bit this year, but reports are that nearly 400,000 people attended, drawing big crowds for the major performances throughout the week. The annual pilgrimage attracts everyone from diehard motorcycle clubs to professional businessmen and women who simply want to escape daily life to ride their bikes, socialize and see live music in the beautiful Black Hills and Badlands of South Dakota.

Reports came out that hundreds of thousands of bikers had descended upon the city in South Dakota for the 80th anniversary of the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, after every other major festival in America had canceled over pandemic concerns. As a photojournalist, I decided to make the trip for the second weekend of the rally after seeing the media coverage of weekend one. I never dreamed my first rally would be in the middle of a worldwide pandemic. The Sturgis Motorcycle Rally has been on my bucket list to attend for a long time.

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