Rib Rally handed off

Moorcroft’s popular Rib Rally, which takes place every year during Sturgis’ Bike Week, has quickly become a mainstay of Moorcroft’s summer events.

In previous years, the Moorcroft Area Chamber of Commerce (MACC) worked with Diehl’s Grocery Store to bring a shady intermission to bikers, tourists and locals alike from 11 a.m.-3 p.m. on Wednesday to relax, have a seat under the canopy and eat a tasty meal of a rack of ribs, beans and a free bottle of water before continuing down the road.

Visitors could talk to neighbors from around the corner or around the world as they ate.

This year, though, things are changing. According to MACC member Krissy Hinkhouse, “The chamber is no longer doing Rib Rally due to a lack of volunteers.” She said Diehl’s owner Emanual Chaffee will be taking over operating the event.

Chaffee later said of the situation, “I pretty much ran it all anyway, I organized it and the chamber would get their [volunteers] and they would donate their time and their canopies and stuff, but, for the most part, if we are able to continue this year, it will look the same as before. My goal is to create more attention and traffic through Moorcroft during the rally, but I don’t know what we’re going to do yet, It’s still up in the air right now… We’ve got the Camporee going on so we’ve got a lot of irons in the fire.”

The store owner anticipates feeding several hundreds of guests this summer and plans to keep the undertaking in house with all the work done by himself and his employees.

“I want to stay positive about it and I want to do it, it’s just a lot of work… I think the community appreciates it and I know tourists do.”

The first Rib Rally fed around 75 people and has grown every year since, feeding in the neighborhood of 300 last summer. Chaffee cooked 100 racks of ribs, “This year, we have to aim higher.”

Chaffee hopes to keep the day of the event the same as it has been throughout the years, which will fall on August 7 this summer, however, “It’s not for sure, yet.”