They say 510,749 for the '15 rally

I would have guessed higher based on the crush of people that were there early this year.

It is more than I have seen in the 9 years that I have gone.

 

I didn't think it was too crowded but it was my first time and I didn't have a control to measure against. Maybe the early people weren't counted if they were not there during the actual rally week

 

That sounds more realistic than the million or more that they were predicting. I said before that I didn't think they'd even get close to a million.

 

I wonder how they get such an exact number? Still a lot of people.

 

LOL. How in hell did they determine that number?

I only went for the last 4 days of the rally and it was less crowded than I was expecting, but friends and family who were there the first half of the rally said that it was easily the most crowded they'd ever seen and some of them have been going for over 15 years.

 

That seems low to me. I was there for the last weekend. It was busier than last year. The line of RV'S and bike heading out of town Saturday morning was bumper to bumper all the way from the Full Throttle (RIP) to I-90. I rode around the area a bunch and never seemed to be in that much traffic except Downtown Sturgis.

 

Last two numbers should been 50 instead of 49 I'm assuming they didn't count me.

 

I think the place was inundated with trailer queens slowing things down! It just felt like a lot of people, because too much space on the roads was filled up by pansies!

 

Who are "they" ? I coudn't find any "official" attendance numbers anywhere.

 

How are the SturgisŪ Motorcycle Rally™ attendance
figures determined?
A: Rally attendance figures are estimated based on a formula that has been used for the last decade, gathering data from different agencies and areas in the Black Hills to arrive at a plausible number. The five sources are: Department of Transportation traffic counts taken throughout the week at the entrances to Sturgis and other Black Hills communities; the number of vendor licenses issued in Sturgis, tons of garbage hauled in Sturgis, Mount Rushmore traffic counts; and South Dakota Department of Revenues sales tax calculations.

http://www.sturgismotorcyclerally.co...and-statistics

On that page they also list the official attendance for current and past years