The 69th Annual Sturgis Motorcycle Rally is nearly upon us… and we couldn’t be happier. The grass is green (really green), the birds are chirping, happy and fat and the rain is likely gone for the remainder of the season (maybe). We’ve been in a full sprint to build the rally circuit’s best new venue and concept and traction is being realized in what seems like faster-than real time.

As domestic tourism is advancing due to a soft economy (people not traveling abroad as much), this years Rally is looking to be well attended in spite of thoughts and opinions to the contrary. For our part, we’re making a substantial commitment and investment in Sturgis and the greater US rally circuit to deliver a new and modernized concept that is ‘Monkey Rock’ and we hope all you rally go’ers will pay a visit to Monkey Rock in Sturgis the end of July and August.

We’re new to Sturgis as an operator and, having been here on the ground for three months now doing nothing but building a new business, I gotta say that most all the folks we’ve encountered along the way have been genuine nice folks. From Gary Lippold who tirelessly built a 1000 acre behemoth state of the art campground over the past 27 years and Rod Woodruff at the famed Buffalo Chip, to Mike Ballard at the Full Throttle Saloon, Ray Gold at One Eyed Jacks, Mark Brooks and Dean Kinney at the Loud American, Candi Thompson of Morman Law, Mike and Anna Kahler of Sturgis Coffee Company, Al Maas at Epic Outdoor, RT Shaw and Dave Wilson of Sturgis Real Estate, Kent, Rex and Brian Hagg at Whiting, Hagg, Hagg, Dorsey & Hagg, all the guys at Eagle Sales, Coca-Cola, Fisher Beverage, Pepper Massey, Jack Daniels of Duhamel Radio, Brad Heid and Patrick Fink of New Rushmore Radio and the folks at Campbell Supply (Fran), we’ve found all these good people, and more, to be sensational friends and have made for the Monkey Rock start up to blend seamlessly into the landscape of the world’s greatest motorcycle rally family of operators and businesspeople, employees and suppliers.

All this said, we’d like to say thanks at this early pre-Rally stage to all of you who have proven to not only be human, but helpful and willing to chip in, wherever possible. Our experience here in Sturgis has been wonderful and has given us cause to understand why the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally is truly the best on earth.

Drop your thoughts or a sample of a Sturgis experience you’ve had here in the Monkey Rock blog. Let’s give those that deserve it their recognition. On behalf of all of us in Sturgis that work hard to make this Rally a great event, we await your arrival for what is sure to be one of the greatest shows ever assembled on earth.  We’ll all be here for you…enjoy the ride in.

I, for one, am a monkey and my name is…

“Rock”