Sturgis North organizers are aiming for a world-class event.
Site manager Steve Hammer addressed a luncheon meeting Jan. 18 of the Salmon Arm Chamber of Commerce, stressing that organizers want the motorcycle rally and music festival set for July 13 to 17 to be successful so it will carry on.
“We know we’ll be under a microscope. Forget that 1960s ‘hell-on-wheels’ style,” he said of motorcycle riders. “That has come and gone. They don’t come into town and take over.”
He said if there is no “Welcome bikers” sign in the window of a business, bikers “will walk on by, out of respect.” He said bikers will spend money in town, and “they buy some weird stuff.”
Hammer mentioned a few items that might be popular including lighters and Salmon Arm sweaters. He noted that bikers often buy larger items and have them shipped home.
“I’m not saying they’re going to buy a new fridge and stove, but who knows?”
Asked if the event would be cancelled if sales are poor, Hammer said no.
“We have gone by the drop-dead point.”
Regarding numbers, Hammer said organizers are expecting 7,500 to 10,000 every day of the five-day event, for a total of 35,000 to 50,000 people.
“Can Salmon Arm handle 35,000 people? Absolutely. Can it handle 50,000? Absolutely,” Hammer said, adding that the event just went over 1,500 online sales and will be looking at a cap of 35 to 40,000, to allow for sales at the gate.
“Do we want to see it expand to 100,000 plus? Absolutely, but not for six to eight years.”
He said comparing Sturgis North to the Sturgis South event in South Dakota is like comparing the Salmon Arm Roots and Blues Festival to Woodstock.
Organizers are working with the school district, Hammer said, to see if they can get school bus drivers who are off for the summer to drive the shuttle buses taking bikers from the fall fairgrounds out to the Moore property once the fall fair activities shut down at night.
There will be three onsite concessions, and organizers are looking for proposals from groups like Rotary, he said, who may wish to staff them to raise funds.
He said a children’s area will be set up where adults will be able to sign in their young people and leave them for two or three hours.
A total of $300,000 is being budgeted for security, the second biggest line item in the budget, he said, “to take all of the pressure off the local resources.”
Hammer said he believes 150 security people are signed on already, but that number could have grown. Asked if local people will be hired, Hammer said yes, they will be used as much as possible. He suggested that people interested send a note via the Sturgis North website.
Hammer also said the medical tent at the festival will be of hospital quality, adding that Peter Maia, security manager, remarked, “If anybody is going to get sick in Salmon Arm, it’ll be the best time to do it.”
As well, a helicopter pad will be set up on the Moore property, which is the agricultural land across the Trans-Canada Highway from the Salmon River Motel, near Salmon Arm West Elementary. It will house camping, a beer garden and a festival area. When the music and beer gardens at the fall fairgrounds shut down at 10 p.m., shuttles will be available to take bikers to the Moore property for more music. Hammer said the fall fairgrounds will be in ‘lock-down’ so motorcycles can be safely left there.
Asked by an audience member how tractor-trailer units will be kept moving through Salmon Arm when participants are turning off the highway at the west end of town, Hammer said organizers are currently in discussion with Transport Canada. He said plans include having shuttles and westbound traffic go down Foothill Road.
