Upcoming World Euchre Championship helps raise funds for Wisconsin community’s projects

Hundreds of euchre players from across the state and country will face off in New Glarus this spring for the third-annual World Euchre Championship.

The event is hosted by the World Euchre Federation, an entity formed by the New Glarus Cares Community Foundation to raise funds for local projects while promoting the trick-taking card game.

Shelly Johnson, president of New Glarus Cares, said the championship tournament supports the local economy with tourism. The proceeds have helped support local parks, too.

This year’s championship will run from May 15 to 18.

Johnson joined WPR’s “Wisconsin Today” to share how the event has grown in its first three years and what impact it has on the New Glarus community.

The following interview was edited for clarity and brevity.

Rob Ferrett: What is the origin story of the World Euchre Championship in New Glarus?

Shelly Johnson: One of our board members came up with the idea as a fundraiser for our organization when we formed back in 2022. We got feedback that unless the tournament was sanctioned by someone, we couldn’t really call it the World Euchre Championship. So, we set up the World Euchre Federation. We have a constitution and bylaws.

We did it to help fund projects for the New Glarus Cares Community Foundation, and it’s really just grown from there. It really started with what I’ll call a marketing schtick, but people love it and have really embraced it.

RF: How many people end up participating in it now?

SJ: Our first year, we had 176 players, and we just hosted a doubles tournament. Last year, we added a singles tournament, and we also grew the number of tables for the doubles tournament. So, we had a total of 480 players.

This year, we’ll have a total of 624 players participating in the event.

RF: How far away do people come from to be part of the tournament?

SJ: It’s crazy. We’ve got people signed up to participate from California, from Washington, Texas, and even some from Canada. We looked at the statistics, and over 40 percent of the people attending the tournament this year are from outside the state of Wisconsin. And over 50 percent of those that live in the state of Wisconsin are traveling more than 100 miles to come here and play in the tournament.

RF: What is the level of competition like? Are people pretty serious about the competitive part of this at the tournament?

SJ: It really varies. Some people are very competitive. But we really have players from all skill levels. Some of them are much more new to the game and are just playing for fun.

This is a charity event, so it’s not like a high-stakes game. They’re not playing for money. They’re playing for prizes and recognition. We have a great championship belt that the winners receive, and that belt is really coveted by people that play in the tournament.

RF: What kind of projects has this tournament help fund in the community?

SJ: Our first year, we were raising funds to save green space in the village adjacent to one of the local parks. It was privately owned, and so we raised funds to purchase that piece of land and donate it to the village to become an official extension of the park so it can never be developed. 

Last year, we used the funds toward a project to build the first-ever Americans with Disabilities Act accessible park in the county at Candy Cane Park. We have all new equipment there, and we had to raise over $250,000 to help fund the project. Some of that money came from the village of New Glarus, but then through other donations, some grants and then fundraising activities like the World Euchre Championship, we were able to raise the balance of those funds. 

This year’s project that we’ve undertaken is a dog park in our community. We’re actively looking at different sites, and we’ll be launching the committee to get that project going here shortly. In addition to that, we’re also doing some research on pickleball courts in the village. We did a community survey last fall, and the results of the survey are what we used to help us drive what project we took on next.