Cloquet, Minnesota · 2012–2013

Northland
Frisbee Invitational

The best night of summer in Cloquet, Minnesota. Seven hours of ultimate. 150+ players from three states. A dance-off for third place. A championship under stadium lights.

Bring it backRead the story
150+players at its peak
21teams in 2013
3states represented
$1,000+raised for REACH mentoring

What happened here

In 2012, Cloquet High School senior Luke Heine spent nine months building a tournament northern Minnesota had never seen: ultimate frisbee open to everyone. Not a college event. Not a club event. A town event. 108 players showed up the first year. 150+ came back the second.

Seven hours of ultimate across the fields of Cloquet. DJ Infinity on the main field. The Pine Journal described “incredible leaps and James Bond-style dives.” Rain hit in 2013 and nobody stopped playing. At 9 p.m. the tournament moved to Pinehurst Park for a championship under stadium lights. Drivers on Highway 33 saw the crowd from the road. When the Northern Lights won the first title on a leaping catch, the crowd erupted.

Players left with new friends and strange tan lines. One eyebrow needed stitches. Every dollar went to the REACH mentoring program for local youth. One player wrote afterward: “It doesn’t matter who you are or how good you are, you will always be welcome at the NFI.”

Two summers, then silence

  1. June 29, 2012

    The first toss

    Cloquet’s first ultimate frisbee tournament. 108 players from more than 20 schools formed six co-ed teams. The Northern Lights, students from Esko, Cloquet, and Moose Lake, sprayed a silver star on their shirts after every win. They took the title with a leaping catch under the lights.

  2. June 28, 2013

    The tournament grows

    150+ players and 21 teams from three states filled the Hilltop fields. Rain hit mid-day and nobody stopped playing. UMD’s Rainbow Fever beat the defending champion Northern Lights in the final. The Dark Bandits skipped the dance-off and won third place on the field.

  3. Today

    The lights are off

    The NFI stopped running years ago. The fields remain. Someone needs to pick up the disc.

The traditions worth bringing back

Championship under the lights

The final started at 9 p.m. at Pinehurst Park under the softball field lights. Drivers saw the crowd from Highway 33.

The dance-off for third place

A dance-off decided third and fourth place. Teams got 20 minutes to choreograph. Team Firehawk took third with “Baby Got Back.”

DJ Infinity on the main field

Music ran all day while games spread across Cloquet, from Hilltop to Pinehurst. Part tournament, part block party.

The ceremonial first toss

Cloquet Mayor Bruce Ahlgren threw the first disc before the inaugural championship game.

Everyone plays, everyone belongs

Every team got two guaranteed games. Club teams played next to friend groups. No cleats. No contact. No attitude.

For the kids

Proceeds went to the REACH mentoring program, which pairs at-risk youth in Cloquet with adult mentors.

Scenes from the field

Players leaping for a disc under the stadium lights while a crowd watches from the sideline
The championship under the lights at Pinehurst Park.
A team in red shirts and headbands mid-choreography during the third-place dance-off
The third-place dance-off. Twenty minutes to choreograph.
Players chasing a disc across a grass field under a cloudy summer sky
Pool play on the fields of Cloquet.
A team with medals posing at night with a giant hand-drawn tournament bracket
Champions, medals, and the hand-drawn bracket.

As seen in

Press coverage and videos from the tournament years.

Video thumbnail: a player climbing out of a second-story window onto a roof with a lawn chair0:43“Everyone’s Invited”: the tournament promoVideo thumbnail: a frisbee sailing alone against a cloudy sky0:22“Butter”: a disc in flight

An open challenge

Start it again.

The fields are ready. The blueprint works. A 16-year-old built the first one in nine months. You have every tool he had.

Get in touch