For once it was quantity over quality.

Nearly 500 participants made Ottawa proud Sunday afternoon -- taking a snowy honour away from the United States by narrowly breaking the world record for most snowmen built in an hour. Teams built 1,299 snowmen, that's 20 more than the old record set in Salt Lake City in 2011.

But what passed for a "snowman" Sunday is a little looser than most people's standards, thanks to the less-than-deal powdery snow.

Torrey MacPherson -- dressed as Duff Man from The Simpsons, complete with cape -- and his Jack Astors' management team had sussed-out a plan to overcome the non-sticky snow challenge.

They brought buckets. The end result was their snowmen looked like a Minecraft clash between Jabba the Hut and Devo.

Others used plastic bags, with considerably less success.

The team from the Wabano Centre opted instead to dig through the freshly-fallen snow to a layer of ice, which they stacked like peanut brittle into a gang of teetering Frostys.

The main rule was the "snowmen" had to be at least three feet tall -- that's about it.

Most people chose to top them off with mitts and tuques which were donated to the Salvation Army after the event.

The event was part of the Cracking up the Capital comedy festival, raising money for agencies including the Amethyst Women's Addiction Centre, Do it for Daron and the Dave Smith Youth Treatment Centre.

The hour-long fandango will be featured on an upcoming segment of the Mercer Report, as its host Rick Mercer was in town to host the festivities.

Twitter: @DougHempstead