RAPID CITY - Last year at this time, downtown Rapid City played host to a week's worth of activities including the Budweiser Clydesdales, a NASCAR display and a motorcycle stunt rider.

This year, only the Clydesdales are making an appearance, today from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Sixth Street next to Prairie Edge.

But the lack of festivities doesn't mean the city isn't putting out the welcome mat for the rally horde.

Over the weekend, volunteers gathered at Interstate 90 overpasses and waved signs and banners greeting bikers headed to Sturgis, and the city has designated the north side of the 600 block of Main Street as motorcycle only parking this week.

Barb Schrader, owner of Global Market, 617 Main, fully supports motorcycle-only parking across the street from her store.

"I think it's awesome," she said.

Schrader said the store is very busy during the rally, especially in the evenings. Global Market normally stays open until 9 p.m. but this week the store will stay open an extra hour.

"We have a life-size wicker motorcycle in our window. That's kind of our, 'ta-dah!' Schrader said. "Of course, we have all our Grateful Dead T-shirts and stuff like that. It's a big hit."

Schrader didn't have an opinion about whether a downtown event during the week would be a benefit.

"I don't think it hurts, but most of our traffic is people coming from the Firehouse or staying at the Radisson, the Alex Johnson or the Holiday Inn," she said.

Rich Baumann, owner of Neugebauer's Jewelry, 601 Main St., said the rally's impact is different every year. Baumann said on Friday that it was difficult to predict what this week would bring.

"Time will tell," he said. "Some rallies, we're quite busy, and other rallies, we're not."

In past years, Neugebauer's has had special promotions during the rally, but Baumann said the store has been so busy this year it decided to hold off on August's promotion.

"It's hard to market it. You can't go after the Sturgis people. What we like to see if there's a lot of bikes downtown it tends to help business," he said. "I think anytime you create activities for them, I think it's great. It gives them a reason to come. You have to provide parking for them and if you do that they will come."

Matt Reed, Rapid City Convention and Visitors Bureau sports and events marketing manager, said the city isn't trying to rival Sturgis.

"We don't want to be the Sturgis headquarters. What we're trying to do and the angle that we're taking is we want people to come here and relax and unwind a little bit from the rally," he said. "If you want to go somewhere and have dinner where there are not huge crowds and lots of noise, this is the place to do it."

Steve Rolinger, president of the Rapid City Downtown Association, said last year's NASCAR event wasn't as successful as hoped, so plans for that kind of event was scrapped this year. However, he said, many businesses are doing things individually to welcome people here for the rally.

The rally has a positive impact on most businesses, though not all, Rolinger said. It probably benefits restaurants and retail shops the most, and the thinking this year is people are already going to be here so scheduling an event probably wasn't necessary.

Creating a special place to park may do more to welcome rally goers downtown than anything, he said.

"I think just giving them a place to come and be really helps out. If you go down there you'll see bikes lined up in the downtown area," Rolinger said.

Contact Scott Aust at 394-8415, or scott.aust@rapidcityjournal.com