Event founder, banjo player and folk music promoter Eli Smith tosses a banjo during the fifth annual Brooklyn Folk Festival's Gowanus Banjo Toss, Sunday, April 19, 2015, in the Brooklyn borough of New York. About two dozen people participated in the annual event. Smith who conceived the event said, "I love the banjo, but sometimes I have the perverse desire to see it thrown into a body of water."  Event founder, banjo player and folk music promoter Eli Smith...  Tyler Frank, who flew from St. Louis to compete, hurls a made-for-destruction banjo into a polluted New York waterway during the fifth annual Brooklyn Folk Festival's Gowanus Banjo Toss, Sunday, April 19, 2015, in the Brooklyn borough of New York. Winner of the men's division with a record-setting 85-foot toss, Frank will take home a new banjo as a result of his skills.  Tyler Frank, who flew from St. Louis to compete, hurls a...  Men's and women's division winners Tyler Frank, of St. Louis, left, and Nada Zimmermann, 18, of Innsbruck, Austria, joke around with a sacrificial tossing banjo after they each won the fifth annual Brooklyn Folk Festival's Gowanus Banjo Toss, Sunday, April 19, 2015, in the Brooklyn borough of New York. Each of them will be awarded a new banjo provided by the event's organizers.  Men's and women's division winners Tyler Frank, of St. Louis, left,...  A sacrificial banjo, customized for competition, rests on a railing beside the heavily polluted Gowanus Canal before the start of the fifth annual Brooklyn Folk Festival's Gowanus Banjo Toss, Sunday, April 19, 2015, in the Brooklyn borough of New York. According to event founder Eli Smith, the banjo that was in disrepair, was lying around at a Brooklyn folk music venue before he dreamed up the idea for a banjo hurling competition.  A sacrificial banjo, customized for competition, rests on a railing...  From left, musicians Eli Smith, Rashad Brown, Ernesto Gomez, and Karen Polisk serenade participants as they parade to the banjo tossing arena shortly before the start of the fifth annual Brooklyn Folk Festival's Gowanus Banjo Toss, Sunday, April 19, 2015, in the Brooklyn borough of New York. Smith, far left, is the event's founder.  From left, musicians Eli Smith, Rashad Brown, Ernesto Gomez, and...  A rope used to retrieve a made-for-destruction banjo is connected for retrieval as Bosco Savkovic, a Serbian living in New York, throws the banjo during the fifth annual Brooklyn Folk Festival's Gowanus Banjo Toss, Sunday, April 19, 2015, in the Brooklyn borough of New York. Savkovic's toss measured 68-feet.  A rope used to retrieve a made-for-destruction banjo is connected...  Geoff Wiley, right, holds a rope as Tyler Frank winds up with a baseball-like stance before tossing a made-for-destruction banjo into a polluted New York waterway during the fifth annual Brooklyn Folk Festival's Gowanus Banjo Toss, Sunday, April 19, 2015, in the Brooklyn borough of New York. Winner of the men's division with a record-setting 85-foot toss, Frank will take home a new banjo as a result of his skills.  Geoff Wiley, right, holds a rope as Tyler Frank winds up with a...  A made-for-destruction banjo makes a splash-landing in a polluted New York waterway during the fifth annual Brooklyn Folk Festival's Gowanus Banjo Toss, Sunday, April 19, 2015, in the Brooklyn borough of New York.  A made-for-destruction banjo makes a splash-landing in a polluted...  Women's division winner 18-year-old Nada Zimmermann of Innsbruck, Austria, prepares to hurl a banjo into a heavily polluted New York waterway during the fifth annual Brooklyn Folk Festival's Gowanus Banjo Toss, Sunday, April 19, 2015, in the Brooklyn borough of New York. Zimmermann won a new banjo for throwing the instrument a record-setting 67-feet.  Women's division winner 18-year-old Nada Zimmermann of Innsbruck,...  Women's division winner 18 year-old Nada Zimmermann of Innsbruck, Austria, hurls a banjo into a heavily polluted New York waterway during the fifth annual Brooklyn Folk Festival's Gowanus Banjo Toss, Sunday, April 19, 2015, in the Brooklyn borough of New York. Zimmermann won a new banjo for throwing the instrument a record-setting 67-feet.  Women's division winner 18 year-old Nada Zimmermann of Innsbruck,...
Event founder, banjo player and radio host Eli Smith, who tossed the banjo a personal best 52 feet on Sunday, conceived the event in 2010, although the first competition wasn't held until the next year.  Once a major transportation route for the then-separate cities of Brooklyn and New York, the Gowanus Canal was home to coal yards, chemical factories and fuel refineries that left behind severely contaminated water.  According to the Environmental Protection Agency, contaminants include PCBs, coal tar wastes, heavy metals and volatile organics.