Broken Spoke owner at center of Sturgis dispute with Sioux Indians over Bear Butte

Jay Allen plans to sell Laconia bar to finance South Dakota megabar and support franchising

STURGIS, S.D. (AP) - The parking lot at the new Broken Spoke Saloon at the Sturgis County Line Campground and RV Park is hardly full, the walls on the bar are still mostly plywood and the campground has a fraction of the campers it can handle.

But owner Jay Allen couldn't be happier.

As the 66th annual Sturgis Motorcycle Rally unfolds this week, more bikers drive past other entertainment sites and Bear Butte to check out his latest project, albeit in the early stages.

"Look at this, guys," he said to a reporter and photographer. "I had people here a week ago that said, 'You're not going to do it.'"

Allen, 52, has been at the center of a controversy over Bear Butte, a land mass that juts above the prairie — and which some American Indians come to for prayer and religious ceremonies.

They tried to stop Meade County — there is no Sturgis County — from issuing Allen an alcohol license because they say noise from motorcycles on the road and entertainment at the site will disturb the quiet on Bear Butte.

He was granted a permit in April and started construction right away, knowing he would have a limited presence at this rally.

A handful of vendors set up their stands around the asphalt parking lot — including one selling mixed drinks made in a motorcycle-engine-powered blender — and a new two-level Broken Spoke Saloon offering music, beer, food and other entertainment.

Allen owns bars by the same name in downtown Sturgis — the "Worlds Biggest Biker Bar" at the heart of the world's biggest biker rally — and elsewhere, though he plans to sell his Daytona, Fla., and Laconia, N.H., saloons and use the money to focus on this project and duplicate the Broken Spoke concept through franchising.

"I put my heart and soul into that name," he said.

By next rally, Allen said he plans to have enough sites to handle 2,000 campers and up to 20,000 tents. The spaces will be larger than other campgrounds — and have Bear Butte two miles away.

"You want to be the one with the nice sites," Allen said of the competition. "With that view and full hookups, you don't get better than that."

Allen said he'll also carve a grass amphitheater on a hill to the south for concerts that can handle about 30,000 people. The music will play back toward the saloon, away from the butte. "It's intimate but it's big enough to do big acts," he said.

The rest of the 1-mile-square property will be mostly undeveloped, Allen said.

"I'm not at the butte, as you can see. I've got thousands of acres between the bar," he said.

Allen, who did not speak publicly about the controversy until the rally, said his intent from the start was to work with Indians and give them a presence on the campground so they can share their culture.

"I wanted people to leave with more than just a party experience," he said.

Other campgrounds are closer to the butte but they were not targeted, Allen said.

"I was like the chosen one," he said. "I am a part of bringing Native Americans together. And I know I've got a bad role in the movie."

Allen said the irony is that Indian construction workers were key to the saloon opening in time for the rally.

"These guys were a one-man wrecking crew," he said. "They made a point to tell me, 'I'm Native American and I'm proud to work on it.'"