They'll be no shortage of outhouses filling the main drag of Historic Downtown Cochrane on Saturday but, sorry, none of them will be useable.

The tradition of the Great Cochrane Outhouse Race continues on Sept. 30 and it will be the biggest edition yet. Up to 28 of these decorative wheeled potties will be maneuvering down main street in an event that is a unique tribute to Cochrane's Western Heritage.

"Actually, it's probably representative of our Western Heritage and community," says Karrie Peace, who's Heavenly Outhouse and Poor David's have spearheaded the race for years. "I think that Cochrane stands for Western Heritage, independence and community. I'm not sure how the symbol of the outhouse fits in there, but we're having a good time with it anyway."

The number of entries could even have been higher if more outhouses were available. 

"Seriously, we could have had 45 entries If there were more outhouses available."

For those unfamilar, it is a fun-loving race to behold. It involves four runners and one person on the throne. Two teams race in each heat and it works its way down to the finals. The winners for funniest and fastest will each receive $500 in Cochrane Dollars, courtesy of the Heavenly Outhouse and Poor David's. 

The outhouses are complemented by some hijinks and pure comedic fun by some of the costumed participants, including last year's funniest entry of Bethany Cochrane. Peace also uses her quick wit in designing some of the match ups. This year it will include the teams of mayor candidates Jeff Genung and Ivan Brooker going head-to-head. 

Former wrestling great Dan Kroffat and Stamps premiere running back Jon Cornish return to announce the event and it wouldn't be surprising to see Cornish help out an outhouse crew or two at some point, as he did last year.

There's a few new add-ons to the event that will welcome people to come early and stay awhile in the Historic Downtown.

The Cochrane and District Chamber of Commerce and Cochrane Lions Club have teamed up with Save-On-Foods to offer a pancake breakfast that runs from 8:00 to 9:30 a.m. near Rexall Drugs. The first 1,000 people making a food bank donation, whether it be nonperishable food or cash, will receive a free breakfast, says the chamber's Chuck Collins. McDonalds will also be onsite with their trailer pouring fresh coffee.

Together with Canadian Tire, Texas Gate Bar and Grill and Save-On-Foods, the chamber also held a draw for the "Best Seats in the House" located in front of the Rockyview Hotel. It's similar to the highly-sucsessful contest they held for the Labour Day Parade.

There's also a street dance that follows at 11:30 a.m. featuring DJ Paul and people are invited to come dance their pants off.

"We'd love to get people dancing in the streets. DJ Paul is going to have great music."

Restaurants in Historic Downtown will be open and they'll be food trucks on site starting at 11 a.m.

It's a proud tradition of the Outhouse Race to give 100 per cent of proceeds to the Cochrane Activettes to help prepare Christmas food hampers. It starts with the entry fee, which is a donation to the food bank, and quite often ends with teams winning the two cash prizes giving some or all of the money to the food bank. There's a special prize awarded to the team with the largest food bank donation. Residents, too, will be invited to be bring along nonperishable food.

There are many generous donations made that day and the local Royal Bank branch is known for being especially generous, says Peace.

"For seven years running, the Royal Bank has made the highest donation. One year they donated over $5,000."

Peace attributes the growing interest in this year's event to the number of people, businesses and organizations that have stepped forward to lend a hand. There's a long list that includes official sponsors Global Pets Foods, Heavenly Outhouse, Menchies and McDonalds and many others like Kathy Hubman and the Activettes, Half Hitch Brewing Company, the chamber, Marni Fedeyko and Dan Kroffat.

She's impressed that Steelhead Ventures has donated the use of one of their elite luxary portapotties to be used during the event, too.

"It's like the Banff Springs of porta-potties," she says.

Most spectators are from Cochrane but they also come from Airdrie, Calgary and our surrounding area and she believes it has the potential of attracting international attention, much like the Beanfest and Outhouse Race celebration in Mountain View, Arkansas.

The weather looks good this year, but you never quite know.

"Everyone should put in a word for good weather," she says.