Eau Claire Sees Big Benefit From U.S. Kubb Championships

For destinations, hosting an event that brings hundreds or thousands of people into the area is a major win. Seldom is an event organically grown within a community to the point it becomes a staple and tradition.

But that is what has happened in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, which will host the 18th installment of the U.S. National Kubb Championship this weekend. The event, which began with 15 teams in 2007, is now a 144–team extravaganza that fills up in less than two days of registration. The 2025 U.S. National Kubb Championship will take place July 12–13 at Eau Claire Soccer Park. The event brings in an estimated $600,000 to the local area.

“It doesn’t happen overnight, but it just really shows the potential that events can have in Eau Claire and how well our community receives it,” said Lucas Connolly, sports relationship manager at Visit Eau Claire. “And we will take care of an event, no matter big or small.”

It’s a tournament where from first-time players to past champions, all skill levels and experience are welcome. Participants have ranged between six years old and in their 80s with players coming from over 25 states each year.

Growing the Game

Before we go any further, an obvious question must be answered … what is kubb?

Odds are, if you don’t live in Wisconsin, you probably have never heard of the game that began in the Nordic region a long time ago. The game is played by two teams of up to six players per side and is a combination of horseshoes, bocce and bowling. Kubb is a lawn game played on grass; the object is to knock down your opponent’s kubbs (little blocks of wood) on the other side of the field by throwing a wooden baton.

Eric Anderson and his wife lived in Sweden briefly in 2005, where they were introduced to kubb. When they moved to Eau Claire in 2007, they had one kubb set and didn’t know anybody in the city.

“We just tried to start introducing it to as many people as we could,” Anderson said. “I’d go to the farmer’s market and set up down there and just ask people if they wanted to play. We went out to schools and introduced kubb to PE teachers, hoping they would teach the kids and the kids would teach the parents, really trying to build a culture.”

The grassroots approach worked in Eau Claire. As more people started to learn and play, kubb rapidly grew in the region. With Anderson as the event director, Eau Claire hosted the inaugural kubb tournament in America in 2007 with 15 teams and 34 players. The next year it doubled in size and in 2011 Anderson moved the event to the Eau Claire Soccer Park, maxing out with 128 teams.

Currently, the event stands at 144 teams, with thousands of players taking part. As the game continues to grow with adults, Anderson wants to keep the next generation interested as well. Kid Kubb — an event for children — takes place July 11, one day before the adults kick off competition.

“In 2011, I went to the Eau Claire city manager and asked him if we could make the city the Kubb Capital of America,” Anderson said. “And he said, ‘How about Kubb Capital of North America?’ So on December 13, 2011, Eau Claire officially became the Kubb Capital of North America.”

Eau Claire and Kubb: A Perfect Partnership

There are now 30 yearly kubb tournaments throughout the United States and you’d be hard pressed to find one that isn’t organized by somebody who fell in love with the game in Eau Claire.

The U.S. National Kubb Championship draws players from at least 25 states, as well as some of the top players from Europe.

“When I travel and meet with different people who have my role across the state, everyone talks about kubb and how great the event is and trying to put on their own kubb events in their cities,” Connolly said. “So it’s really become a staple in Eau Claire; but the people who travel here to play get to share a piece of what Eau Claire is made of and what a gem we have around here and share that with everyone from out of town.”

Anderson says Eau Claire is the perfect place for the largest kubb tournament in America, with geography playing a role.

“We’re about an hour and a half from the Twin Cities, four hours from Chicago, three hours from Madison and Milwaukee is close,” Anderson said. “I think if we were to move to one of those major cities, something maybe gets lost. So I think Eau Claire’s a perfect size for it.

“Visit Eau Claire has been a huge partner. A lot of tourism bureaus, depending on the community, might just laugh at this game or think, ‘Oh, that’s not serious or legitimate.’ Visit Eau Claire does great job of promoting a lot of unique things here. We have curling, ski jumping, kubb, a lot of different types of musical festivals. We really embrace the things that make us different.”

The U.S. National Kubb Championship also gives back to the community. The event is a 501c3 fundraiser for Girls on the Run, a national program for young girls in elementary and middle school that promotes self-empowerment through running. Each team pays $90 to enter the tournament, with the winners in the four skill groups receiving special prizes, including gift baskets from Visit Eau Claire that feature some of the unique foods and goods the city has to offer.

“One of our biggest goals is we don’t want to just host an event and kind of let the organizers take everything on,” Connolly said. “We have connections and ties to the city, and we want to make events the best they can be. Our goal is to always bring people back and have them say, ‘Wow, that was a really neat event and we need to check out this part of town, or we need go eat at this local restaurant.’ Over the years kubb has grown to a scale that I don’t know if Eric thought it would get to.”

As Anderson takes a moment to think back to the origins of kubb in Eau Claire, it seems surreal.

“In 2007 we hosted the first tournament and did a decent job and felt pretty good about it,” Anderson said. “And just from day one, Visit Eau Claire was all on board with kubb and we’ve been so appreciative to now be working with Kenzi Havlicek and her staff. Visit Eau Claire has always been a big supporter and big part of making this event what it is today.”