APPLETON, Wis. — With a solid thud, the tip of Brianna Funke’s knife sticks into the wooden target.
Funke is in the early rounds of the weekend-long World Axe and Knife Throwing League USA Pro-Am Championships being hosted in Appleton, Wis.
“For me, it’s just fun. I don’t do it to win, I don’t do it to be serious. If I win it’s cool, but it’s really just the people,” Funke said. “I come for the people and the friendships. We’re like a big, weird family.”
She made the trip to Wisconsin with about 15 other people from the Des Moines, Iowa, area.
“Only six hours, that’s not bad,” Funk said about the drive time. “We’ve driven 12 hours, I think, to get to worlds in Texas two years ago and that wasn’t even terrible.”
Matt Ten Haken of the Fox Cities Convention & Visitors Bureau (CVB) said the four-day event is expected to bring more than 300 competitors and their families and friends to Appleton.
Officials said it’s expected to bring a half million dollars in spending to the city and surrounding areas.
“We’re going to trade shows four or five times a year to try to find good business to bring to town,” Ten Haken said. “We’re also scouring the internet and trade publications to find the right events that are the right fit for our venues and our community. We’re doing that every day.”
Ten Haken, director of sports marketing for Fox Cities CVB, is one of two people at the bureau focused on bringing sporting events to the Fox Valley.
“We have about 240 sporting events that bring visitors to the area every year,” he said. “It results in about $10 million of direct visitor spending that is coming out of visitor’s pockets right to the area businesses.”
That includes people like Funke who made the trip for more than the competition.
“Being one of the larger tournaments of the year, I get to see everybody all in one go,” she said. “It’s nice because sometimes you can go months or even a year without seeing everybody and it’s like one big family reunion.”
