Map of Buffalo Chip town

The Buffalo Chip Campground is an event venue in Meade County, South Dakota, United States. The campground is a place for motorcycle enthusiasts and music festival visitors each year, and has been since its founding in 1981. Host to a 10-day Concert Series and thousands of motorcyclists each August during the annual Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, the Buffalo Chip provides a music festival, various other forms of entertainment, and full service tent, RV and cabin camping on almost 600 acres in rural Meade County. The motorcycle and music festival also features entertainment including multiple disciplines of racing, exhibits, beauty pageants, dance performances, bike shows, world-record-breaking stunts, midget bowling, and military tributes.

Buffalo Chip town overview:
Name:	Buffalo Chip town
LSAD Code:	43
LSAD Description:	town (suffix)
State:	South Dakota
County:	Meade County
FIPS code:	4608330

Online Interactive Map

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Buffalo Chip online map. Source: Basemap layers from Google Map, Open Street Map (OSM), Arcgisonline, Wmflabs. Boundary Data from Database of Global Administrative Areas.

Buffalo Chip location map. Where is Buffalo Chip town?

Buffalo Chip location on the U.S. Map. Where is Buffalo Chip town. — Buffalo Chip location on the U.S. Map.

Buffalo Chip location on the South Dakota map. Where is Buffalo Chip town. — Location of Buffalo Chip in South Dakota.

History

The Sturgis Buffalo Chip Campground, located outside of Sturgis, SD, began in 1981 as a campground for bikers attending the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally. In the early years motorcyclists roughed it in tents in little more than a pasture, however over the years the Buffalo Chip Campground improved infrastructure by installing electricity, drilling wells, laying asphalt, and erecting flush toilet facilities, shower houses, and RV sites. Additional attractions and amenities sprung up around the property including cabins, a swimming hole called the “Bikini Beach”, an award-winning PowerSports Complex, racetracks, multiple stages, numerous bars, a variety of food services, a convenience store, a gas station, and a motorcycle product retail and installation facility. Throughout the years, several landmarks have also been erected on the property, including the iron “Welcome Home Biker” entrance gates, the World’s Largest V-Twin Engine sculpture, Freedom Field, and an 8-ton buffalo sculpture with the letters “CHIP” cut out of its center 30′ above Hwy 34 at the northwest corner of the Sturgis Buffalo Chip’s property.

The Sturgis Buffalo Chip featured Susan Nelson as the first artist to perform at its inaugural event, followed by Johnny Paycheck.

The Buffalo Chip made notable national television news coverage in 2008 when John McCain visited the Buffalo Chip Campground on his 2008 campaign trail. McCain joked that he wanted his wife to enter the Miss Buffalo Chip beauty contest held at the Buffalo Chip campground. In 2009 the Buffalo Chip made additional notable national news coverage when Aerosmith lead singer, Steven Tyler, fell off the stage.

The Sturgis Buffalo Chip built a 7,000 sq. ft. exhibition hall in 2009 to house its annual Motorcycles as Art Exhibit. This annual revolving exhibit has been curated by Michael Lichter. Exhibits have featured the works of multiple builders of custom motorcycles, the works of photographer Michael Lichter, himself, and sculptor Jeff Decker.

in 2012, the Sturgis Buffalo Chip built CrossRoads, an outdoor free-access venue at the western edge of the property, featuring the Big Engine Bar and stage, Field of Flags military tribute, and open space for vendors, bike washes, motorcycle shows, and numerous other motorcycle rally-related activities.

South Dakota Governor, Dennis Daugaard proclaimed Thursday, Aug. 11, 2011, as the official Buffalo Chip Campground Day in South Dakota. The proclamation was read from the Wolfman Jack Stage by ABC TV news anchorman, Bob Woodruff, present to participate in the Buffalo Chip’s Military Tribute Day and raise awareness for the Bob Woodruff Foundation’s mission to put action into the saying “Support Our Troops.”

Robbie Knievel made motorcycle jumps at the Buffalo Chip.

The Buffalo Chip hosted TORC: The Off-Road Championship at its PowerSports Complex in 2014 and 2015.

The Buffalo Chip TT held in the venue’s amphitheater was part of the American Flat Track Circuit in 2017, 2018, and 2019.

Other entertainment and activities that have occurred at the Buffalo Chip includes racing, fire dancers, ziplines, roller derby, machine gun shooting, midget bowling, comedians, and more.

The Sturgis Buffalo Chip has been featured in multiple television specials on the Discovery, Travel Channel, Fox Sports Network, CMT, HISTORY, and NBC Sports. The venue has also been featured in Rolling Stone, The New York Times, Forbes, Billboard, Pollstar, CNN, and Time.