New Look Attractions

The Oxbow Hotel's New Video Is a Love Letter to Eau Claire

Just yesterday The Oxbow Hotel – the new downtown boutique hotel that completely transformed the block where the troubled Green Tree Inn was just a few years ago – posted a new video showing a couple enjoying what downtown Eau Claire has to offer. But the film looks like more than just a commercial for the hotel – it's a love letter to Eau Claire and where it’s heading right now.

The hotel writes: "Downtown Eau Claire, Wisconsin is changing. Music, art, food, drinks, trails, rivers, and events are shifting the culture. As a newly relaunched boutique property, The Oxbow Hotel sits at the intersection of our community's past, present, and future. Join us, either overnight or at The Lakely, and experience the new direction."

Sure, the video is meant to entice people into visiting the hotel or their farm-to-table restaurant, The Lakely – but when it makes the town look this good, we all win. It shows the couple exploring town on bikes and kayaks, eating and drinking with friends, listening to records, and taking in that big Shouting Matches concert right on the street before this summer's Eaux Claires fest.

And the localness doesn't stop there. The narration for the video is an excerpt from the Chippewa Valley-based author Nickolas Butler's New York Times best-selling novel "Shotgun Lovesongs." It's read by James Diers, the lead musician behind Halloween Alaska and Love-cars, two Minneapolis-based bands that have strong ties to the Eau Claire scene. And of course the music is by Eau Claire band The Shouting Matches, whose members appear in the video as well.

Along with the Oxbow ownership team, the video was created in large part by Anthony Casonova, a former local who grew up in Eau Claire but is now based in Chicago. Casonova and two friends came up for a couple weekends to shoot the video thanks to support from their employer, Guy Bauer Productions. 


This post was produced through a partnership with The Oxbow Hotel in downtown Eau Claire. Learn more!