In a Monday, Sept. 26 press release, Sturgis North released the promised attendance figures.
“It has been 60 days since the Sturgis North 2011 event and we now have an official numbers count. There were just under 10,000 tickets sold including, one-, three- and five-day passes. There were close to 4,000 in free and complimentary tickets given out, including the free tickets to the locals of Chase, Salmon Arm and Sicamous on our opening day, July 13. Our closest estimate was a total of approximately 35,000 attendees overall for the five days.
Sasseville previously told the Observer that an event running for more days, with Salmon Arm being the base for travel to other Shuswap and Okanagan locations, would be a bigger draw for bikers, who want to spend warm days riding the roads of the region.
“We know there was a tremendous boost to the local economy as well as surrounding areas helping B.C.’s tourism in the Okanagan region,” states the release.
The group says they will be “engaging other communities for events during the festival,” and will be making those announcements later on. Sicamous, for example, hosted a well-attended burnout event.
“There will (be) some changes made based on the feedback from our first year. We want to personally thank our loyal Sturgis Northers who made this such a great experience and want you to know that we have heard the feedback from our attendees and want to build a festival that you will enjoy and return back to for years to come,” states the release.
