The annual Sausage Toss is one of the highlights of the Ocean Beach Oktoberfest. But how in the world did it come into being? The Hoy Hoy Boys were looking for something interactive for their event when someone suggested a Sausage Toss. The idea was nothing more than having participants throw a sausage to win a prize. Nobody knew exactly what to do. So two guys went to Crown Point one afternoon with several raw sausages and tossed them toward a bucket. It was messy and as unsanitary as it was unsavory. Next came the search for rubber sausages or anything like them. One search led to an X-rated bookstore and another to pet store. Finally, a rubber hot dog made for puppies was adopted. The first Sausage Toss was a resounding success. Long lines of people queued up to throw the sausage toward a bucket 50 feet away. It was novel, simple and it looked so easy. Several hundred people tried their hand before Trevor Koenig, then goaltender for the San Diego Gulls hockey club, launched the perfect throw, winning the $10,000 first prize. “It was pure luck,” Koenig confided. “I could have thrown that sausage another thousand times and not made another.”