Bikers heading to Sturgis stop in tiny eastern Montana town by the thousands

ALZADA — Alzada has about two dozen residents but one day every year, it becomes one of the largest towns in the southeastern corner of Montana. That’s thanks to bikers on their way to and from the Sturgis Rally in South Dakota.

As a resident living near Alzada, it’s something Julie Stoddard gets to experience more than most.

“You can’t believe what a bunch of bikers think of a bunch of cowboys. They were pretty fascinated,” Stoddard said Tuesday.

It’s not just a bunch of bikers. It’s thousands.

“There’s one convenience store in Alzada, and that poor little store just burst at the seams on that day,” Stoddard said.

Stoddard has seen firsthand the joy, excitement, and traffic these bikers bring to the Stoneville Saloon on this specific Tuesday.

“It’s pretty crazy actually. On that particular day, to have the traffic increase by double on that road,” added Stoddard.

“We have usually seven (thousand) to 10,000 bikes. If we clear, if we make it over about 8,400, we’re bigger than Miles City and Havre. So we’re in the top 10 largest cities in Montana for an afternoon,” said Carter County Sheriff’s Deputy Dwayne Bruce.

Bruce said they’ve had bikes backed up over a mile to the state line in the past.

“It’s loud because even at an idle, when you have 40 bikes passing, you can’t hear, you can’t talk to each other. You can’t hear by about noon,” Bruce said.

He said there’s so many people in the area that you can’t even get cell phone service.

“Your phone will tell you you’ve got five bars. You try to make a call and it’ll say, tower’s busy,” said Bruce.

The county suspends any work in the area, even the Montana Department of Transportation is involved.

Julie Stoddard

“Puts a thing out on the 511 information that there’s an incident here, just encouraging truck drivers to go a different route,” Bruce said.

It’s why all hands are on deck.

“We have Montana Highway Patrol, Wyoming Highway Patrol, Motor Carrier Service. Then we have DES from probably three different counties. And then of course, the sheriff’s office, we brought in some reserves,” said Bruce.

A day’s work, however, is worth it for the rest of the year.

“I’ve been told that that’s, that’s basically the one day makes the bar’s budget for the rest of the year,” Bruce said.

It brings a little excitement to local residents like Stoddard in an otherwise remote area.

“It’s a great chance to learn about other people and share with them about our world, too,” said Stoddard.