Scout Shows - What are They
Ed Henderson (BigEdBSA@AOL.COM)
Thu, 28 Nov 1996 04:56:55 -0500
Lots of people have written me asking what a Scout Show is. Recently I was
at the Atlanta Area Council Scout Show where I operated a promotional booth
for Camp Thunder in the Flint River Council as well as our own Camp Trading
Post.
Scout Shows go by many different names around the country I suspect: Scout
Expo, Scout-A-Rama, etc. Basically it is a one day event where tickets are
sold to the public where they can get a chance to visit and see what Scouting
is all about. These Scout Shows, most of which have a theme, allow Packs,
Troops, Posts, and even special groups like the local APO, NESA, etc. to set
up a booth and exhibit a theme. The council also pushes all of their
upcoming traning events and program events for the year.
In some councils these events are done at the district level. The Atlanta
one is considered to be the largest in the nation and attracts a lot of
scouts from other councils who just want to go and see the spectacle.
A troop could get a year's worth of program ideas just from one two hour
stroll among the hundreds of booths. There is also good PR to be had. The
Atlanta Council's show made the front page of the Atlanta newspaper & even
got on CNN's Headline News (and that helps all of us).
Atlanta even has commercial booths at their shows and so different rafting
outfitters, and local amusements, and attractions also set up their displays.
I hope this description helps.
YIS,
Ed Henderson
Terry Howerton Sakima Group, Inc. SCOUTER Magazine Kansas City | 
