When the party ends, the clean up begins

STURGIS, S.D. (KEVN) - The annual Sturgis Motorcycle Rally brings in more than 500,000 people to the city, which means excitement, fun, and a lot of trash.

From collecting garbage to hosing and sweeping down the streets, clean-up crews work as a well-oiled machine to get the job done.

With crews out at 2 a.m. the early morning start means that crews can work without impeding traffic, which helps get the jobs done faster and more efficiently.

Public Works Director Rick Bush says that the job is never ending, and crews collect nearly 30 tons of garbage every night.

“It’s ready every morning so they don’t realize what all that goes into it. But probably one of the biggest things that amazes me as well is we do it with all our regular staff, we don’t hire on any extra staff to complete any of it. We do it with all of our regular staff and we’re not a big division to begin with, the public works department,” added Bush.

Bush predicts that by the end of the rally public works will have collected 600 to 800 tons of traffic.

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