The battle is being waged over Bear Butte, a mountain six miles outside Sturgis that the Plains Indians have long considered sacred. With a trend toward open-air biker bars and concert venues, the rally has crept closer to the butte.
This summer, construction began about two miles north of the mountain on a 600-acre campground billed as the "world's biggest biker bar." The camp is within sight of where American Indians gather to fast and pray.
"In the past, all the partying was done near town, but now they're going to surround our sacred mountain and desecrate it, drink on it and leave their trash when they go back to where they came from," says Vic Camp, 31, a Lakota from the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.
Tempers flared in August 2005, when Arizona entrepreneur Jay Allen announced plans to build the biker bar and entertainment complex on S.D. 79.
Camp and dozens of other American Indians have gathered on tribal land north of the butte to protest the granting of beer and liquor licenses to Allen and other property owners. They claim that rally-related noise disturbs the sanctity of a spiritual place whose past visitors included Red Cloud, Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull.
The protesters, joined by some area ranchers, are requesting a five-mile "buffer zone" around Bear Butte, a state park where buffalo roam freely and colorful pieces of cloth hang from trees to symbolize expressions of prayer.
"Just imagine if they told all the Christians in America, 'You guys can't go to church . . . until we're done partying,' " Camp says. "This mountain that you see here is a sacred altar -- it's our church, school and hospital all in one."
Much of the rancor is directed toward Allen, the outspoken owner of the famed Broken Spoke Saloon in Sturgis. He hasn't backed down on his vision, with future plans calling for 150,000 square feet of asphalt and an amphitheater to seat 30,000 concertgoers.
"I get death threats on a weekly basis," said Allen, who first attended the Sturgis rally as a leather gloves vendor in 1986.
"But I have been nothing but respectful to the Native Americans, and I tried to use this as a tool to enlighten people about their lifestyle. Their tradition isn't going away, but ours isn't either."
Allen's new venue will consist this year of about 100 RV sites, and crews are working feverishly to finish a bar and vending and music areas before the rally.
A group of local volunteers called the Bear Butte International Alliance is promoting a "Don't Ride 79" campaign, urging bikers not to travel on S.D. 79.
"We probably will stop the traffic from going on this road, but we're going to do it in a peaceful and respectful way," Camp said. "We're not against the bikers, and we're not against the Sturgis rally."
Meade County Sheriff Ron Merwin offered a note of caution about protesters trying to stop traffic.
"I wouldn't say we're expecting anything more than the normal rally concerns," Merwin said. "But if they start backing up traffic on Highway 79, those bikers are not going to be happy."
Camp insisted that if there's any violence, it won't be initiated by American Indians gathered at Bear Butte.
"If it is provoked, it will be provoked by the other side -- by disrespectful bikers coming through and hollering at us and spitting at us, like they have done at other protests."