Get your Speedos ready — the eighth annual Paint the Town Pink kicks off Saturday in cool style.

Make that cold, really cold, style.

The annual Plunging for Pink Polar Plunge gets the official PTTP campaign underway at 1:30 p.m. at East Side Lake. Scores of teams will gather in their favorite outfits for the dip, all facing icy waters to raise funds for cancer research.

The goal for this year’s campaign, which runs through Feb. 11, is $300,000. Since its inception in 2011, the PTTP has raised nearly $1.2 million. Last year’s total raised $306,000.

Communities all across the area hold events to raise funds to support The Hormel Institute’s cutting-edge cancer research.  The event began in Austin with the first “Paint the Rink Pink” hockey game and has since grown to include Rose Creek, Adams, Brownsdale and several other communities across southeastern Minnesota and Iowa.

Many of the popular events – like the plunge, Fishing for a Cure, and Paint the Rink Pink — return, but there are new ones as well. They include swing dancing, scrapbooking, ice golf, demo derby and more.

Funds raised go directly to researchers at The Hormel Institute. The initiative targets breast cancer research, but discoveries by researchers can often be applied to other cancers, organizers say.

One hundred percent of every dollar donated goes to directly toward cancer research.

Next week will feature the Pledging for Pink Radiothon by KAUS on Feb. 2 and Pink Rocks! Highway to Cure Benefit at the American Legion, featuring Ventura Highway, both events on Feb. 2; and on Feb. 3: all day events at Rose Creek, the YMCA 5K Super Run at the AHS Dome; Fishing for a Cure  at East Side Lake, and Pink Swing at Hormel Historic Home.