Sturgis residents air out some concerns over controversial race two weeks before election day

STURGIS, S.D. (KEVN) - Two weeks from Tuesday, people who live in Sturgis will vote on whether they want the city to host a flat-track race downtown on the last day of this year’s rally.

On April 9, Sturgis voters will have the opportunity for their voices to be heard, especially with questions about the Spirit of Sturgis flat track race still fresh in many people’s minds.

“Residents just want to know what kind of benefit can we get for this, if you’re willing to spend our money without a guarantee,” explained Spirit of Sturgis TT petition representative Brenda Vasknetz. “The people’s concerns are that the city wants to put on a race that hasn’t been communicated to the churches or the people really impacted by it and that they want to spend money that isn’t in their budget to do so and their banking on sponsorship dollars to do that.”

The people are asking for more transparency when it comes to talking about investment returns for the city if the race does happen, and some residents are saying this is currently not the case.

“Not necessarily have to like tell you if there’s going to be a return on that investment or where that return will come from and the specifics; it feels like a large amount of money for something that’s unknown,” expressed Black Hills Rally and Gold manager Madison Pankratz. “It feels like a gamble to me, and without knowing for sure that you’re going to have revenue, I can’t necessarily justify the expense, especially when it comes to taxpayer dollars.”

According to the city, the money to host the race will come from sponsorship dollars and this can be seen in the City of Sturgis Host Agreement.

“That was one of the things that the city council was adamant about, ‘that I would go forward with this race, but it has to be paid for by sponsorship dollars’,” explained City of Sturgis director of communications Deb Holland. “And if you do look into those contracts, it does say that after the first year, if either party does not want it to go forward anymore, either party can say we can’t move forward with this; we’re not going to do it again.”

The topic of investment return isn’t the only issue on residents’ minds; on the business side of things, a lot of the local Sturgis storefronts that also wholesale and rent out lots for vendors during the rally could find it difficult to move around.

“We also wholesale, and so we distribute a lot of rally products, a lot of souvenirs for the Black Hills, and a lot of our vendors are also going to be set up along the street inside of the race parameters,” explained Pankratz. “So it’ll be conflicting to try and get them to come in to pay their bills on that last Sunday when they normally do, and it’ll be a struggle for them to pack up and head out of town, and we also won’t have foot traffic our way.”

Hosting the race on Sunday is also a big talking point in the community, as with it being the last day of the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, many residents said that they would rather have their city back and go back to the quiet town it is without the hustle and bustle of the rally.

“The last day of the rally is the day everybody can go back to the grocery store without it being an inconvenience; they can go get their groceries; they can get their gasoline; we kind of get our town back on that day,” expressed Vasknetz.

While others believe this was a good effort by the city but terrible timing.

“I just want to emphasize that we really do support the city, and we love their efforts, like trying to make it busier, but we wish that if we were going to take a gamble on something, it would not be during our busiest time of year,” said Pankratz.

The city is standing by its decision to try and host the event while still encouraging the public to look at the documents provided on its website before the election happens.

For Vasknetz, the effort put in by the community to get the city to bring the race to a vote is something that she hopes people can see and hopes that come April 9 people put yes on the ballot, as a yes vote would reject the city council’s action and a no vote would approve the council’s action

“I just think it’s wonderful that they did the right thing at the last meeting and set an election. It is disappointing, though, that when I saw the ballot question, I felt that it was intentional to confuse the residents at the polls on April 9,” expressed Vasknetz.

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