How do you personally feel about motorcycles? Do you have one? Would you rent one?

Would a rally attract you?

Imagine this: It is an early week in August 2006, and your town of Sturgis, with all of 6,500 people, situated on the rolling Dakota plains nestled against the Black Hills, is playing host to half a million bikers from around the world for the 66th Sturgis Motorcycle Rally. For weeks motorcycles have been roaring around Sturgis, clogging the main streets and nearly doubling the state’s population. The blaring of classic rock and country music almost drowns out the sounds of the revving engines. All available rooms have long been filled and biker tents are pitched on every available space, while shops and saloons are open from dawn to midnight and beyond. Still, you wonder how the town can accommodate such a horde.

Your neighbors couldn’t be happier. “We do like to see them come. They’re fun, good people,” says the executive director of the chamber of commerce.

Why? You wonder. But then you know. These rallies are great for business. With the average Harley owner making about $75,000 a year, they are free spenders, “and good tippers.” A one-week event can bring several hundred million dollars to the local economy, and to the state in sales taxes.

Sturgis is not alone in attracting bikers. Laconia, New Hampshire, and Daytona Beach, Florida also host hundreds of thousands of bikers, while hundreds of smaller events appear across the country every year. Johnstown, Pennsylvania, is one of the fastest growing rallies, starting in 1998 with 3,500 bikers, and by 2006 drawing 200,000.

The social calendar for motorcyclists has been rapidly filling up in recent years, as communities offer such popular activities as vintage bike shows, parades, stunt shows, races, scenic rides, and live music. “The residents come down, bring their kids. You’ll see people here who don’t even own motorcycles dressed like bikers.” The old Viking and Hells Angel image of outlaws, barbarians, and wild men seems no more.