STURGIS, S.D. – A first-grade teacher from North Dakota is the winner of the City of Sturgis Motorcycle Rally Logo Contest for the 84 th Rally.
The logo was revealed at the Closing Ceremony Saturday at Harley-Davidson Rally Point in Sturgis.
Morgan Bauer, 23, grew up and still lives in Bismarck, ND. She will be a first-grade teacher at Kidder County School in Steele, ND, this fall.
She graduated from Century High School in Bismarck in 2019 and earned her teaching degree from the University of Mary at Bismarck.
Last fall, the city of Sturgis asked people to design a special logo that would be used to promote the 84th City of Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in 2024. Top prize was $5,000.
Each year, the City of Sturgis uses a unique annual mark to highlight that year’s 10-day event. The city sought artwork that used the existing City Brand Marks and incorporated stylized elements which would highlight the 84th Annual City of Sturgis Motorcycle Rally.
Bauer said she was excited and thankful to learn she had won the City of Sturgis logo contest.
“I was smiling from ear to ear,” she admits.
She attended the City Sturgis Motorcycle Rally last year for the first time with her brother andnwas overwhelmed by the creativity bike owners put into their cycles.
“I really enjoyed walking around Main Street and looking at all the bikes. Sturgis is a unique experience like no other,” she said.
Bauer said when she began to draw her design she thought about the common denominators of the Rally as conveyed in the Rally tagline – The Ride. The Roar. The Rally. And they all involve the wheels on the motorcycles.
So, that is what Bauer’s design is, a motorcycle tire track encircling Bear Butte and the City of Sturgis Motorcycle Rally mark.
“Like other people, when I think of Sturgis, I think of motorcycles and the roar of the Rally,” she said.
She admits that she has only dabbled in the commercial drawing field.
“After high school, I just did drawings for myself. I have made a couple logos for my parents’ business and doing stuff here and there for my friends, but nothing like this,” she said.
The City of Sturgis received more than 100 entries in its 84th Annual City of Sturgis Motorcycle Rally Logo Contest.
The field was narrowed to five entries and the public was asked to vote for their favorite in an online contest. Bauer’s mark will be used in a variety of advertisements, digital media, news releases, points of sale, products and advertising and a variety of merchandise that will be sold online and in locations in Sturgis and throughout the nation.
City officials say they were pleased with the number and quality of entries received.
“Having received more than 100 extraordinary designs, it was a challenge to determine the winner,” said Sturgis Mayor Mark Carstensen
The entries came from Black Hills artists, and others from across the state and nation.
