Scout-O-Rama

[Scouting4Ever 11]

In April our District will be hosting a Scout-O-Rama. The idea is to get Scouting into the public eye and showing all the great and fun things that we do.

 

The Troops are doing cooking demonstrations, setting up a camp, bringing a trebuchet, etc. They have asked the Packs to particiapte as well. One Pack is setting up their Pinewood Derby track and we are now starting the process of gathering ideas.

 

What have you done in the past? What have you seen or heard about working at a Scout-O-Rama? Any ideas that you might have would be greatly appreciated.

 

Any and all help is greatly appreciates.

[Ltfightr 18]

We were going to do one last year (I think we still might but no one knows). My Pack was/is going to be making catapults. I found a very easy one on the web. And would end up costing less than a dollar a person to make. Here is the site. It doesn't have how to build it but you can tell just from the picture. It's the first one.

 

http://www.knightforhire.com/catapult.htm

 

Diana

[SSScout 1615]

Great idea. Waaaaay back in prehistory (when I was a Scout), our District (the whole county ) held an event called the Scout-o-rama. It took up the whole County Fair grounds. Every Scout Unit was asked (?required? I forget) to set up a booth, exhibit, demonstration, something. One Cub Pack ran a movie theater. One troop built a lash up tower. Another sold campfire brownies (gave away?). I don't remember the Pinewood derby back then, still new I guess.

Almost anything could go , I think. I have seen lashed up merry go rounds! Sell popcorn (fresh! not that canned stuff...). Show "Follow me Boys!" I'm thinking someone could find a distributor to set up an outdoor theater. Small pool for boating, bigger pool for canoe jousting (check with Navy recruiting for SCUBA dive tank.. COPE course. Zip line. Camp cooking. Lots of camp cooking. Steaks, potatoes, brownies/dutch ovens, spaghetti (check with county health inspector) (and fire marshall for outdoor burning) .

Do flag retirements. Get Press coverage. LOTS of press coverage.

Ballon release. Racing pigeons. Helicopter landing (state police?). Bicycle motocross? Band concert? Celebrities visit? Mike Roe??

Cub Packs do games: Bean bag toss, throw rope lasso, rubber band shooters, water gun targets, R/C car races? PWDerby?

Crafts: make Cub stuff to take home with your Pack Troop name on it.

Two boy crosscut saw, cut off a "cookie" to take home with the troops name stamped (?burned?) on it. Need nice straight dry fencepost logs for that. Home Depot?

"Oh the places you'll go, the things you'll see"...

 

With sufficient control::: hatchet throw?

 

[CalicoPenn 729]

Our council used to do a council-wide Scout-O-Rama. We got donated use of the horse racing track's interior hall (a rather massive space) during the off season when all the furnishings and accoutrements were off in storage. (think convention hall). Every unit in the Council participated, including the Explorer Posts in some way. It was also a fundraiser for the Council and Units - we sold an awful lot of $1 tickets - most were probably never used. The Council hasn't done then since the late 1980's - which is a shame.

 

Each unit set up a booth of some kind with games, prizes, information, and/or demonstrations. The Packs usually had games that were perfect for Cub Scout and younger age children - things like bean bag tosses (as in "Baggo"), or "fishing" (popular with the young tots, there would be a plywood divider that had a seascape painted on it, the tots would "fish" using bamboo poles, and after a little bit, the string would be tugged an up would come a "fish" (some kind of little toy). Troops usually had some kind of game perfect for Boy Scout age children - and often consisting of some kind of scout skill. It might be a knot tying race, or lashing, or a Kim's game type quiz. It was always a fun time. The booths were set up by District - the only exception being the Explorers which had their own area as one group rather than staying within their District boundaries (mostly because, I believe, it was far more common for Explorer Scouts to cross District boundaries to join a Post. There were only 2 Police Explorer Posts in the Council (which is a very large suburban area of Chicago), 2 Fire Explorer Posts, 2 Sea Scout Ships, so they tended to attract membership from all over.

 

A couple of Troops worked together and set up a monkey bridge every year - always popular. One Troop and brother Pack set up an "Indian Village" complete with teepee every year and would put on a 5 minute show dance about every 1/2 hour. A search and rescue Explorer post set up a climbing wall - this was pre-COPES of course. The Sea Scout Ships would get together and bring in a couple of boats, the Police and Fire Posts brought in police and fire vehicles. The only limits were of the imagination.

 

One of my Explorer Posts, which was at the time, the unofficial OA dance crew (all of the members except one were also members of the OA, the one that wasn't was someone who wasn't a Scout but had friends in the Post. Most of the members all came from one Troop as well, and I did a little research and it turns out that 8 of us also ended up being honored with the Vigil Honor), would present a 20-minute program of authentic Native American dances about once every hour and a half.

 

The Explorer Posts were also used to provide certain services to the Scout-O-Rama. The Police Posts would direct traffic and provide exterior security in the parking lots. The Fire and Medical Posts provided the first aid. A couple of Emergency Services Posts provided internal security (which mostly meant keeping folks out of the grandstand and off-limits areas, and crowd control as needed). (Sorry if I'm being Explorer-centric - I spent 3 years at SoR with my Pack, 3 with my Troop and 7 with my Posts - I remember more about what the Posts did because I was far more active at Scout-o-Rama with my Posts than I was with my Pack and Troop.)

 

The OA did it's annual Lodge Officer elections during Scout-O-Rama (since that was the one event pretty much every Scout in the Council touched at some point in the weekend). Since that now made SoR an official Lodge activity, OA Sashes were a common sight.

 

On Saturday morning, their would be a big flag raising outside - all the Cub Scouts and their leaders would be in one half of a semi-circle around the flag poles, the Boy Scouts (and leaders)in most of the other half, with the Explorers taking up a part of the Boy Scout half at the end of the Semi-circle. Behind the flag poles (and turning the semi-circle into a near circle) would be all the flag bearers of the Unit flags. The Color Guard would always consist of 2 Cub Scouts, 2 Boy Scouts and 2 Explorers - usually someone from one of the Police/Fire Posts and someone from a Sea Scout Ship. There was usually a picture of that gathering every year in the paper.

 

The last time I went to a Scout-O-Rama was on a visit back from College which fell in between my winter camping instructor duties at the Maine National High Adventure base and my summer duties at the Maine National High Adventure Base. My registration at the time was through the High Adventure base so my tab colors were gold. The thought never crossed my mind that I might cause a bit of a stir walking around the hall wearing my uniform with the gold tabs.

 

I just wish we would have had room for a trebuchet!

[mikecummings157 10]

We call it "Adventureland" in Central NY, but it's the same idea.

 

One of the best events we did when we were in Cubs was making and racing "Walnut Racers". We got this from Insane Scouter, but it's probably elsewhere.

 

Materials needed:

Walnut shells,

marbles,

markers,

wiggle eyes,

felt,

yarn

glue.

 

Pry the walnut shells apart carefully. Clean the walnut meat out. Smooth out the surface of the inside

of the shell. Glue the marble inside the shell. If it is a deep shell you may need to add a foam

piece so that the marble clears the edge of the shell. Decorate the outside of the shell to make

your creature unique. Find or make a slanted surface and race the creatures. The marble inside

the shell allows the racer to slide easily.

[LNTfan 10]

At our last Scout-O-Rama we invited the local Forest Service unit to participate. They brought sawbucks and 6" trees so each boy could a "tree cookie" with a bow saw. They also brought firefighting back pack pumps (also called bladder bags) and let the boys shoot at targets. The boys loved it!! Especially the water pumps. We had markers so the boys were able to put the date and location of the Scout-O-Rama on their tree cookies.