It’s time once again to grab your coat, grab the kids, grab a friend, especially one who’s never attended an Outhouse Tour before or, very possibly doesn’t even believe that such a thing exists!

If you don’t know where you are going, google your way to Elk Falls, in beautiful Elk County. The Friday and Saturday before Thanksgiving, Nov. 21-22, the 29th Annual Elk Falls Open House is the event which includes the infamous 13th Annual Outhouse Tour and Contest.

So just what is an outhouse tour? Each year, about a dozen brave individuals and local businesses spruce up their outhouses for a contest where the visitors are the judges. Cash prizes are awarded to the top three as well as the coveted Outhouse Throne Award, a custom made trophy chamber pot. A few new entrees this year are the Thinker, Pot at the End of the Rainbow, Goin’ to the Dogs, and Kansas John’s Hidey Hole. Pick up a ballot and a map at the Outhouse Headquarters downtown and vote for your favorite privy! Cost is $1 for a commemorative Outhouse Button.

Not an outhouse enthusiast? There will be lots of hometown enjoyment at the 29th Annual Fall Open House, which of course includes good homemade food. Apple dumplings are an Elk Falls tradition, along with homemade soups, biscuits and gravy, hot dogs, waffles and more. Arts and crafts at the Elk Valley High School gym, a quilt show at Calvary Chapel, demonstrations and refreshments at Elk Falls Pottery, a cake walk, the Pershing/Prairie Gem schoolhouse, and even a street dance Saturday night. As everyone who has ever attended the Outhouse Tour says, “Ya gotta go!”