“I have not seen that low of a count on a day coming into Sturgis for a long time,” said Deb Holland, the director of communications for the City of Sturgis about the opening day Friday, August 4.

The South Dakota Department of Transportation counts traffic based on a number of factors including sensors that count vehicles, the number of vendor licenses issued, amount of garbage hauled in Sturgis, Mount Rushmore traffic counts and the South Dakota Department of Revenues sales tax calculation. 

This year, there was a decrease of six vendor licenses from last year with 751 in 2023 and 757 in 2022. But, the city hauled 226.97 tons of garbage this year, which is up from 203.82 tons in 2022. 

Holland also attributed the lower numbers, in part, to the cold and rainy weather at the start of the rally. Holland spoke with the National Weather Service and confirmed that since 1938, when the rally was started, this year was the second coldest high temperatures on record, behind only 1999. 

Saturday, August 5 saw a high of 64 degrees with Monday’s high at 66. Saturday’s vehicle count came in at 38,126, by that time last year the count was 60,000. 

“We took a real hit on the rainy day but then we actually bounced back,” Holland said. “I was kind of excited, Wednesday we were up and Thursday we were up almost 15 percent and usually that’s a day that people are leaving. It was great to see that, with the sun shining, people either stayed longer or decided to hang on and come later in the week.”

While the rain may have caused lower numbers, the bars in Sturgis didn’t feel the impact.

Dean Kearney, the co-owner of Loud American, said this year was the best they had since the 75th celebration in 2015. Kearney said part of that was due to the cold and rain pushing people inside at the start of the rally. 

“I have heard anecdotal stories of some people feeling it was down in some areas, and I don’t doubt those, but we just didn’t see it,” he said. “We thought the foot traffic was great, everything was very similar to last year which was also great.”

Both of Loud American’s concert venues are covered, so none of their performances were impacted negatively. Kearney said they will begin planning for next year’s rally soon. 

“It’s pretty important for our business,” Kearney said. “For Loud American, it is definitely a vital part of our year, as is all of summer tourism.”

Below is the daily vehicle count from the Department of Transportation. All percentage comparisons are based on the previous five-year average. 

Friday, August 4: 45,652 vehicles entered; down 13.4%

Saturday, August 5: 38,126 vehicles entered; down 37.3% 

Sunday, August 6: 60,586 vehicles entered; up 4.4% 

Monday, August 7: 50,487 vehicles entered; down 16.9% 

Tuesday, August 8: 55,848 vehicles entered; down 4.2% 

Wednesday, August 9: 56,444 vehicles entered; up 1.4% 

Thursday, August 10: 52,195 vehicles entered; up 3.7% 

Friday, August 11: 45,661 vehicles entered; up 0.4%

Saturday, August 12: 33,278 vehicles entered; down 4.5%

Sunday, August 13: 19,884 vehicles entered; down 6.5%

"We're drawing attendees from a 150-mile radius," said Jamie Mack, the executive director of the Opera House. Residents of western Minnesota and northeastern South Dakota, "are looking for events to go to," Mack said.

Lots of those attendees spend a weekend or night in Watertown and visit restaurants and other attractions.

The Opera House offers discounts at local hotels so if a ticket holder uses that discount, they know, Mack said.

"We see the ticketing zip codes," Mack said, highlighting another way of knowing that shows draw out-of-towners.

Mack said the Opera House works with Visit Watertown or the Watertown Convention and Visitors Bureau on marketing. Lindsay Stangle, the director of marketing and business development for Visit Watertown, said the marketing of the entertainment schedule is organic and not as targeted as marketing for conventions or meetings.

"(Opera House) does a really good job of promoting...," Stangle said.

"I'm pretty sure that all of the events that I have gone to have been sold out," Stangle said.

The upcoming season is seven shows from September through April 2024.

"A lot of artists want to play now. There is no shortage of artists," Mack said. And the Goss's reputation is growing.

"We are gaining a reputation for our acoustics in the Opera House," Mack said.

It's important to book a variety of entertainment, she said. That includes a symphony performance, bands and other artists. Entertainment director Chris Paulson and the staff have ideas for different bands and performers.

"We are a nonprofit, we are not huge, so we can't pull in those (major) artists," Mack said.

The venue still draws high-quality artists, she said.

Paulson "does a nice job of finding artists who may be in between two venues...," Mack said. That can help reduce the cost for those artists. While the Opera House wants Friday or Saturday performances, sometimes a Thursday or Sunday performance is needed to secure the artist, she said.

Last season, the Opera House booked Absolute Queen, a Queen tribute band. This year's schedule includes Hotel California, an Eagles tribute band.

The schedule also includes Christian rock band Sanctus Real and a performance of The Nutcracker Ballet among the seven dates.

The Opera House seats about 400. About 30% of the ticket sold are to season ticket holders.

Season ticket sales start online or at Maud's Mercantile on the ground floor of the Goss 10 a.m. Friday, Aug. 18. The season tickets are on sale until Sept. 4. Tickets for individual shows start at 10 a.m. on Sept. 8.

A major renovation of the Goss Opera Hall was completed several years ago. It makes the hall more attractive to artists but also for weddings and conferences, Mack said.

Stangle said the Goss offers a more intimate space for conventions than some larger venues. Organizations and businesses looking for different settings and unique experiences can find it in the Goss, she said.

She recently did a site visit with representatives of a group of travel writers. They were impressed by the venue and the spaces it provided for writers, Stangle said.

The Goss lineup also includes dinner and a movie experience, "which is a cool idea," Stangle added.

Here's a visualization of the day to day numbers in each category throughout the rally in 2023 vs. 2022.

Here's a breakdown of the numbers

While the largest number of changes were in warnings and cash seized, both down from 2022, the thing that may stand out most is the steep rise in drug arrests.

In 2022, there were a total of 251 drug arrests at the rally. This year, there were 401.

This 150 arrest increase represents a 59.7% increase in drug arrests overall.

KELOLAND News reached out to DPS on Friday, August 11 and again on Monday, August 14, asking for an interview or information on the following:

• Reasons that we're seeing more drug arrests this year than last year (~400 vs ~250 last year).
• Whether we've seen drugs primarily for personal use/small sales, or whether it was mainly large quantities for sale and distribution.
• The types and quantities of the drugs found this year, whether certain types were seen more than others, and whether the types of drugs have been changing year over year.
• If there were large-scale drug busts this year, or if most of these arrests resulted from more routine things such as speeding stops or DUI checks.

On Monday we received an email telling us that the data provided speaks for itself.

The data does show that there's been an increase in arrests, but does not give any context regarding why there are more arrests, what drugs have been found, the quantities of the drugs or the circumstances in which they were found.

KELOLAND News followed up, asking again for this information, and received this response:

"Thanks for reaching out to DPS.
We appreciate your interest but have nothing further to add at this time."

As of Aug. 14, there are six 2024 ballot questions approved for collecting signatures: 

• A constitutional amendment establishing a right to an abortion in the state. 
• A constitutional amendment to create top-two primary elections.
• A constitutional amendment to limit state lawmakers from serving more than 16 years in the legislature. 
• A constitutional amendment prohibiting the legislature from amending or repealing ballot measures for seven years. 
• Both a constitutional amendment and initiated measure to stop the sales tax on groceries. 

In addition to the six questions approved for collecting signatures, there’s two marijuana-related proposed ballot measures that have received draft statements from Attorney General Marty Jackley. State law requires the AG to provide a draft title and explanation for each ballot measure to help voters of the purpose and effect of the proposed measure. 

The AG’s office has received comments on a proposed initiated measure to repeal South Dakota’s medical marijuana program. The AG’s office is also currently receiving comments (until Aug. 21) on a proposed initiated measure to legalize marijuana possession for people 21 years of age or older. 

If both measures end up being approved to start collecting signatures by the secretary of state’s office, there’s a chance South Dakota voters could vote on repealing medical marijuana in the state and vote on legalizing marijuana.  

The South Dakota Constitution sets thresholds for the number of signatures required from registered South Dakota voters for a measure to make the ballot. For the 2024 election, the number of signatures are a minimum of 17,508 valid signatures for a proposed initiated measure and a minimum of 35,017 valid signatures for a proposed constitutional amendment. 

Travis Ismay, with an address listed in Butte County, is the main sponsor for the ballot measure looking to repeal medical marijuana. There were more than 45 submitted comments to the AG’s office from July 27 to Aug. 6 on the draft statement.  

Ismay wrote to have the first paragraph of the ballot explanation removed. 

“This has nothing to do with the ballot initiative itself, only the approval of the sad law 34-20g that this initiative is attempting to repeal,” an email from Ismay said. 

There were many submitted comments criticizing the proposed ballot measure but not offering comment on the AG draft statement. 

Matthew Schweich, with an address listed in Sioux Falls, is the main sponsor for the ballot measure looking to legalize marijuana. Schweich led the 2022 fight for marijuana legalization. 

The proposed ballot measure is only four sections long and comments on the AG’s draft statement will be received until Aug. 21.

Marijuana history in South Dakota

The 2024 election would be the third consecutive election South Dakota voters would weigh in on the topic of marijuana legalization. 

In 2020, medical marijuana was on the ballot twice in 2020 in both Amendment A and Initiated Measure 26. IM 26, which was strictly an initiated measure dealing with medical marijuana, passed by a 70%-30% margin in 2020. 

In 2022, Initiated Measure 27, a ballot measure to legalize marijuana, failed 53%-47%.   

Marijuana remains illegal under federal law, but 23 states have legalized marijuana for people 21 and older. 

Last year was dubbed the “tripledemic” with an influx in cases for influenza, COVID-19 and RSV throughout the nation. Both Sanford and Avera physicians said it will be unlikely that KELOLAND gets hit as hard with all three viruses this year.

David Basel, the vice president of clinical quality at Avera did say there’s concern that this year’s influenza season in particular will be worse than average. He said the flu season starts in the southern hemisphere so medical professionals in the United States can get an indication of what the flu season will be like here by looking at how it impacted countries like Australia over the summer. Basel said Australia’s flu season was pretty significant this year and we can expect the same here. 

“Because we had some light flu seasons for a couple of years, so people didn't see the flu for a couple of years, we've got less protection from just people getting sick with it periodically,” Basel said. “I also think fewer people got flu shots there for a little bit so our protection is lower.”

However, Joseph Segeleon, the vice president and medical officer at Sanford Children’s Hospital, said he hasn’t seen any indication that this year’s flu season will be any worse than previous years for both influenza and COVID-19. Segeleon said the reduced severity of COVID is due to the immunity people have built up from either getting the virus in the past or getting a vaccine. 

“We have gained in our immunity as a population,” he said. “Although we are likely to have increases in COVID infections and COVID hospitalizations, there is nothing with these current variants that would make us think that it will be any more severe than it has in the past.”

Segeleon did say though that the flu is expected to come earlier than normal this year. Basel and Segeleon recommend people get their flu shots in mid-September. Segeleon said there should be no issues with the production and distribution of influenza vaccines this year. 

Along with flu shots, a new COVID-19 booster vaccine will hit the market around September or October. This vaccine is meant to tackle the new XBB and EG.5 virus variants and will be available for anyone over six months of age. Although there isn’t an exact timeline for when the new booster will be available, getting both the COVID-19 booster and annual flu shot at the same time will pose no issues and is recommended. 

For the future, both physicians anticipate COVID-19 functioning very similarly to the yearly flu where people will need to get updated vaccinations every flu season. Basel did say that experts are still unsure of the seasonality of COVID and whether it will appear during the same season as the flu. 

“The mutations that we're seeing is kind of like the flu from the standpoint that COVID has shown the ability to continue to slowly mutate and evolve to try to escape our immune system, so you have to keep up with it as it mutates,” Basel said. 

As for RSV, there are a few new developments that will be ready for both infants and elderly this fall. A new vaccine was created for people over the age of 60 that are immunocompromised, have heart or lung disease or live in a nursing home. For the first time, a new antibody for infants is available which has shown to be up to 80 percent effective. The antibody, nirsevimab, is meant for infants less than eight months old to reduce the burden of the illness.  

“Infants, just by the nature of being younger than six months old, can be vulnerable to RSV and can get severely ill and when I say severely ill, I mean up to and including being on mechanical ventilation or having a breathing tube,” Segeleon said. “So this medication, being able to be offered to the population of those under eight months of age, to reduce the likelihood of severe illness in RSV, is pretty significant.”

Both Basel and Segeleon recommend everyone get vaccinated this fall and to stay home if they are feeling sick.

“Don’t be a hero, if you’ve got the common cold symptoms this winter, stay home from work and don’t spread it to others because it may be RSV, it may be influenza, it may be COVID, all of which are things we want to reduce the spread of,” Basel said.  

The new deal came after the Summit League organized a media rights committee for more than 12 months and established four key priorities: expansion of national linear distribution, increased revenue, enhanced fan affinity and experience, and protection of member local/regional relationships.   

“This is a historic moment for the League, and these relationships will give fans a better experience to consume Summit League content, with more national exposure on CBS Sports Network and enhanced digital content through Midco,” Summit League Commissioner Josh Fenton said in a news release announcing the deal. 

The cost of the three-year media rights deal is not public. The Summit League men’s and women’s basketball tournament championship games will no longer air on ESPN channels. 

As part of the deal, CBS Sports Network will televise at least six Summit League regular-season men’s basketball games and has the opportunity to add an additional six men’s or women’s games. CBS Sports Network will also televise the two semifinal games and championship game of the women’s basketball Summit League tournament. On the men’s side, CBS Sports Network will televise the championship game, while Midco Sports will continue to televise the women’s and men’s first round and quarterfinal games for the next three years. 

CBS Sports Network will televise both the men’s and women’s championship games in 2025 and 2026 and has the opportunity to televise the men’s and women’s semifinals in those years based on scheduling availability. 

“We are excited to begin this partnership with The Summit League,” Dan Weinberg, CBS Sports Executive Vice President said in a news release. “This deal allows us to add live games throughout the regular season to our CBS Sports Network schedule, as well as two automatic bids to the NCAA Tournament with the Men’s and Women’s Championship finals.”

CBS Sports Network has no affiliation with KELOLAND Media Group.

CBS Sports Network can be found through all major cable, satellite, and telco distributors as well as via OTT streaming service providers YouTube TV, fuboTV, DirecTV and Hulu. Additionally, a live CBS Sports Network stream is available through www.cbssports.com and the CBS Sports App by authenticating with select providers.

‘More exposure’ to Summit League 

The Summit League tournament, which expanded to a 10-team format in 2023, has been held in Sioux Falls since 2009 and is under contract to stay in Sioux Falls until 2025.

Thomas Lee, the Sioux Falls Sports Authority Executive Director, said the sports authority was not involved in the Summit League’s rights agreement. 

“(We) are happy that this new agreement should bring even more exposure to the league and Sioux Falls,” Lee said in an emailed statement.  

The Sioux Falls Sports Authority along with Experience Sioux Falls played key roles in bringing the Summit League tournament to Sioux Falls in 2009. 

A total of 57,165 people attended 20 games played over five days during March 2023 at the Denny Sanford PREMIER Center, according to numbers released by the Summit League. 

The all-time attendance record is 65,533 in 2016 when South Dakota State won the men’s and women’s titles. The South Dakota men reached the semifinals and Coyote women played in the women’s championship that year. 

The 2024 tournament is scheduled for Mach 8-12 at the Denny Sanford PREMIER Center.

Along with the nine member schools – Denver, University of Missouri-Kansas City, North Dakota, North Dakota State, Omaha, Oral Roberts, St. Thomas, South Dakota and South Dakota State – the Summit League also has six affiliate members for baseball, men’s tennis, men’s soccer and men’s swimming and diving. 

Summit League, Midco partner for Summit League Network 

In addition to the deal with CBS Sports Network, the Summit League announced it will create the Summit League Network in a partnership with Midco. 

The new network is a direct-to-consumer digital network and the exclusive streaming home for live and on-demand coverage of Summit League schools. More than 600 live events are expected to be streamed on the new network. 

All Summit League regular season and basketball championship broadcasts produced by Midco Sports will also be available on SLN.

SLN will be home to all home regular-season conference and non-conference games for the sports of volleyball, men’s and women’s soccer, men’s and women’s basketball, softball and baseball. The SLN broadcasts are the responsibility of the home institution, which may be a digital-only telecast or use of an institution's local TV partner production. 

USD athletic director David Herbster said USD was thrilled to see the new investment into the league. 

"We were proud to offer home events for free these last several years, but the ability to watch all Summit League games home and away on one platform and at any time will be a huge draw,” Herbster said in a news release. “We are happy to take this next step with Midco."

Subscriptions for the Summit League Network are $9.99 a month or $79.99 for 12 months. Current Midco Sports Plus customers will see their rate increase in September.

Missouri Valley Football Conference remains partner with ESPN 

The Summit League does not offer football as a sport. College football at the FBS-level continues to drive much of the conference changes with NCAA college sports. 

Summit League members North Dakota, North Dakota State, South Dakota and South Dakota State compete in the Missouri Valley Football Conference. St. Thomas competes in the Pioneer Football League.

The Missouri Valley Football Conference’s media rights agreement with ESPN is through the 2023 season.

Both misdemeanor and felony drug arrests are on the rise.

Comparing year-to-date numbers from 2022 to 2023, we can see this rise in the misdemeanor arrests, with 188 reported as of 6:00 a.m. Friday, as opposed to 117 on the same day the year prior.

This rise is noticeable in the area of felony drug arrests as well, with 133 so far in 2023 as opposed to just 88 the same time in 2022.

Combining the totals for both misdemeanor and felonies, we find that there have been 321 overall drug arrests between Saturday, Aug. 5 and Friday, Aug. 11 in 2023, as opposed to 205 in 2022; an increase of 56.58%.

KELOLAND News reached out to the South Dakota Department of Public Safety, but as of publishing, have not received any information regarding the increase in drug arrests during the rally.

A fifth can be added to the list with the Aug. 9 in Sturgis. The Sturgis Police Department said a shooting happened near the Big D gas station on Junction Avenue and Dickson Drive on the morning of Aug. 9. The state's Division of Criminal Investigation (DCI) and the Attorney General's office are investigating the incident.

According to investigation reports and news released posted on the AG's website, officer-involved shootings have increased significantly since 2003. In the past 10 years, there has been more than 50 officer-involved shootings.

From 2003 through 2013, there were at least 20 officer-involved shootings.

There were 13 officer-involved shootings in 2022. In 2003, the state had three officer-involved shootings.

The three officer-involved shootings in 2003 were in Rapid City.

This week and in early January, South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley said he believes most of the officer-involved shootings are compounded by drugs.

Minnehaha County Sheriff Mike Milstead said in a Sept. 19, 2022, KELOLAND story that drugs were fueling gun violence. “There was a day when some of the drug dealers carried firearms. Well, it’s changed completely now. Drug dealers are carrying firearms and drug users, many of the users of these drugs are willing to arm themselves,” Milstead said in the story.

Reports from two officer involved shootings in 2022 vary in revealing drug connections.

A juvenile was shot on Sept. 19, 2022, in Sioux Falls, roughly 10 days after being placed on an emergency mental health hold for suicidal statements and actions, according to the investigative report. The juvenile had a weapon on Sept. 19, 2022, but did not obey commands to drop it. The juvenile told police, "I want to pop someone in the face and get shot." The juvenile did not have a criminal record, according to the report.

Shania Watkins was shot multiple times by law officers on May 31, 2022, in Rapid City, after a pursuit by police. A criminal background check of Watkins showed a history of criminal offenses to include, theft, drug offenses, protection order violation, and false impersonation, according to the investigative report. The drug screen results for Watkins in the May 31 incident showed positive for methamphetamine and cannabinoid, according to the report.

The South Dakota Department of Public Safety releases a Sturgis Rally Tally – a 24-hour (6 a.m. to 6 a.m.) recap for crashes, DUI arrests, drug arrests, citations and warnings for both Sturgis and the Rapid City district. 

Note: Rally Tally numbers from DPS do not include data from the Rally’s official opening day Friday, Aug. 4.

Here is a breakdown of the numbers day-by-day.

Crashes

There was one fatal crash reported for August 9-10th. According to DPS, a 2004 Harley Davidson was heading east on I-90 in the westbound lane near mile-marker 24 at 1:49 a.m. on Thursday.

The motorcycle hit a 2008 GMC Yukon head on, and the 61-year-old driver was pronounced dead at the scene. Nobody in the GMC was injured.

In addition to the fatal crash, nine more injury crashes were noted by DPS.

The 9-10th also included the first cash seizure of the 2023 rally, with $2005.00 seized in the Sturgis District.

The department has 280 officers but there's room for 288.

The department has been recruiting heavily since at least 2020. The top permanent post on the department's Twitter (X) account is a recruitment post from Nov. 18, 2020.

Although the department is recruiting until Sept. 15 for new officers for the next round of training, it's vacancy rate is better than various departments in the U.S.

A report in Police1, for example, said earlier this year several law enforcement agencies in Georgia were reporting vacancy rates of about 20%. In February of this year, the Richmond, Virginia, Police reported a vacancy rate of 21%.

"We're fortunate to have a 3% vacancy rate for officers," Lohr said.

Lohr said the department has not been at full staff since 2017. The department has added sign-on bonuses of $5,000 to help with recruiting, Lohr said.

The local department is also attractive because it has 20 specialty units that offer officers growth and leadership opportunities, he said.

The starting salary for an officer was about $61,000, he said.

City and police officials have said over the past several years that Sioux Falls was committed to increasing the diversity of its police force.

Lohr could not specifically cite the percentage of diversity on the force but said "The last class was one of the most diverse we've had."