Three great things are coming together in one event in July: beer, cornhole and the Boys and Girls Club.

At the Pyramid Ale House in Sodo, from 2 p.m. to 7 p.m., July 6, a cornhole tournament will be held to benefit the King County Boys and Girls Club’s Keystone Teen Leadership Fund, which funds teen programming to help youth stay off the streets, learn leadership skills through summits and conferences and become involved in the community.

The tournament, while not based in Ballard nor funding the Ballard club in specific, is the brainchild of two lifelong Ballardites: Katrina Sigurdson and Stephen Howey. Both grew up in the neighborhood and both went to and are still involved in the local club.

“Some of these clubs are in low income areas and it really is a safe place for kids to come and stay off streets. This is their family, their parents, in a way,” Sigurdson said.

The pair had come up with the idea when they sat down to try and figure out what they wanted to do. They knew they wanted to help a cause, but weren’t sure what yet. It wasn’t until Ballard Boys and Girls Club Executive Director Shelley informed them that there was no outside funding for the Keystone Teen Leadership Fund whatsoever.

“We were like, what?” Howey said.

Both Howey and Sigurdson had been heavily influenced by the Keystone program when they were younger. As freshmen in High School, they helped start the Keystone Club in Ballard, acting as the first president and vice president. Howey lamented that he lost out to Sigurdson for the presidential position.

“For me I had never done community service before that and it engaged me in really wanting to give back to the community,” Sigurdson said.

Howey agreed.

“That was the first time we were there (at the Ballard Boys and Girls Club) not to be served by the community, but really to serve it,” he said.

The cornhole tournament is only the beginning, Sigurdson said. Howey and Sigurdson hope to create a sustainable and ongoing campaign to significantly fund the Keystone Program in King County.

“We want to make it a sustainable project. ... Our hope is this is something that would change (the way Keystone is funded in) King County in general,” Sigurdson said.

What is "cornhole" exactly? It's a bean bag toss-like game where contestants must try to get the bag through the hole in the board opposite them. As for the name, it is quite literal; traditionally the bean bag is filled with dried corn. So, corn + hole = "cornhole."

The game is popular in the Midwest and is thought to originate from Cincinatti, OH, said Brian Thiel, coordinator for Cornhole Washington. (Thiel might be a bit biased as he’s from Ohio; there are conflicting reports on where it actually came from.)

The Ballard News-Tribune covered the second largest cornhole tournament in an August 12, 2012 article, ”Second Largest PNW Cornhole Tournament hosted in Ballard.”

Of course, it was an event put on by Sigurdson, who has been at the forefront of getting the local community jazzed about cornhole ever since.

Sigurdson claims she’s not even that good at cornhole, but Howey might contend otherwise. Really the only way to find out is by going to the charity cornhole tournament yourself.

Charity Cornhole Tourney for King County Boys and Girls Club takes place on Saturday July 6, from 2 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the Pyramid Ale House (1201 1st Avenue S). Registration is day of and costs $40 for the competitive division, $30 for the social division and just $5 to watch. The event is 21+

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