STURGIS — The fate of the 2012 motorcycle rally should be obvious soon.
Whatever the name, Oktibbeha County’s annual summertime motorcycle rally is plagued by the same obstacle that led to the cancellation of the 2011 rally : lack of money.
Red Hills Motorcycle Rally, formerly the Sturgis South Motorcycle Rally, was canceled in early August after a $40,000 budget shortfall and loss of $28,000 from the 2010 rally. Dwindling attendance, high gas prices and a poor economy have hurt, too.
By mid-January, the six-member rally board will meet and vote whether to continue the rally. Should the board reach a majority vote, it will submit a proposal to the city of Sturgis –site of the rally for 13 years — and continue to plan a 2012 rally.
“If they turn it down, I venture to say the rally board will disband and turn everything over to Sturgis and let them do what they want to do,” said Donny Hanson, rally board president.
An exact date for the board meeting hasn’t been set, but Hanson expects to meet before the end of the month.
The rally board’s contract with the city was $17,500 in 2010. After deep losses that year, the board offered to pay $7,500 this year, which the Sturgis Board of Aldermen rejected 3-1.
The board didn’t have a contract with the city for the first 11 years of the rally, and Hanson said the added expense, which Sturgis uses for cleanup services, makes a significant difference in the operating budget.
“What we did before this contract was the rally board put the rally on, we paid expenses, and if we made any money off it, we turned around and gave the town a check for 30 percent of profits,” Hanson said. “We’re having to cut back a lot, and things like the economy aren’t helping.”
Former rally board member and Sturgis Mayor Walter Turner said legally the city cannot host the event without a contract. He said the city is willing to negotiate a lower figure and is confident an agreement will be reached.
“When you get involved with municipal money, you just can’t have ‘gold old boy’ agreements,” Turner said. “We had to change it. It really didn’t change anything but formalized things.”
Hanson said the hemorrhaging could be far less if the rally has more corporate support.
The rally doesn’t have sponsors, he said, and there’s little investment from businesses in neighboring cities, where rally goers eat and sleep during the event.
Hanson said he and rally board members have gone door to door asking business owners to offer food or drinks or discounted hotel rooms for bands. In the past 10 years, one motel owner has offered free rooms. One restaurant, he said, delivered appetizer trays to the bands.
“Everyone sees it as a money-making opportunity and wants to get their hands in the pie,” Hanson said, noting the economic benefits for neighboring cities. “The most support we get is from people wanting us to advertise with them.”
Turner, a board member of the Oktibbeha County Economic Development Authority, asked the Starkville Convention and Visitors Bureau and authority to consider donating money to this year’s event but didn’t gain support.
Greater Starkville Development Partnership CEO Jon Maynard said the Partnership, which runs the development authority and visitors bureau, doesn’t rule out supporting the rally but said budget decisions are made on a case by case basis.
Hanson and the rally board are in a tough spot. If they trim their entertainment budget and get lesser-known acts, attendance will suffer and they’ll make less money. Country music singer Charlie Daniels was the headliner in 2006, the rally’s best year for profits. But high-profile acts are expensive, and last year’s $80,000 budget to book Colt Ford and Jamey Johnson was roughly $40,000 more than the board could afford.
The rally board makes nearly all of its money off the sale of all-access arm bands, which go for $35 or $40 a pop. Hanson said in 2006, the board sold 6,000 wristbands but hasn’t come close to that since then. Without multiple revenue streams, the contingency funds built up from previous rallies are depleted.
Hanson said the board has discussed fundraising options should they decide to move forward in January but nothing has been planned.
“If we run out of rally funds to pay these bills, board members will have to come out of own pocket,” Hanson said. “We’re not financially able to do that.”
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