Third Annual cornhole tournament to benefit Banks Youth Football is Saturday

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The cornhole tournament to benefit Banks Youth Football is from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday.

It’ll be the third year that the fundraiser has been held during the Banks BBQ, a necessity borne from the COVID-19 pandemic that turned out to be a blessing in disguise.

With indoor fundraisers out during the pandemic, the Banks Youth Football’s traditional bingo dinner fundraiser was out, so how to make money?

“We came up with the idea of the cornhole tournament,” said Angie Lyda, because it was able to be held outdoors during the Banks BBQ in 2021.

It was a success for both the youth football program and for the Sunset Park Association, Lyda said.

This year, it’ll be the third such tournament. It’s become the biggest fundraiser for the group.

A $50 fee gets a team in; more information is available online.

There’s space for 64 teams total.

Lyda said the last two years had yielded about $10,000 from the cornhole tournament fundraiser, between the tourney, a silent auction, and a raffle.

“Everyone gets involved. The high school football boys come over, and they are actually official scorekeepers,” Lyda said.

“Football is expensive,” Lyda added. Insurance and equipment quickly pile up. But the tournament has helped the Banks Youth Football extend their generosity, not just in town, but to programs at other schools, too.

“We’ve been recertifying helmets and loaning it out to other programs,” said Chris Lyda, Angie’s husband, a middle school football coach.

“If we don’t have people to compete against, we can’t compete, right?” he said.