A Scoutmaster's Blog

Five Boy Scouts and two adult leaders of Melrose Troop 68 joined nearly 3200 other Scouts and leaders for the 2011 Ripley Rendezvous. The event was held at the Camp Ripley National Guard Base in central Minnesota. Boy Scouts from all over Minnesota attended, along with some Boy Scouts from neighboring States and even Canada.

The program was divided into three activities areas, based on the age of the Scouts. The three activities were:
– Action Center Midway (60+ Displays, Demonstrations, Vendors and Hands-on Activities)
– Adventure Program (Shooting Sports and Voyageurs re-enactment group)
– Extreme (Climbing, Rappelling, Team Challenges, Biathlon Course, Military Demonstrations) – for Boy Scouts 14+ and Venturers.

Other highlights of the weekend were military displays and demonstrations, including live rounds fired by tanks, an arial photograph taken of the Scouts and leaders forming a huge fleur-de-lis (watch a future blog post for this picture), and the Camp Ripley Museum.

Saturday evening finished with a grand stage show that featured a band, singers, a comedian, a juggler, and acrobats. There was also a special presentation in which the commander of the Minnesota National Guard was given a Boy Scout banner signed by hundreds of Scouts and adult leaders. This banner will be sent overseas to one of our National Guard units to remind them that we appreciate everything they are doing and are sacrificing to keep us free and safe back home.

The Boy Scouts of Troop 68 had a great time at the Ripley Rendezvous. I believe I can safely say that all the Scouts and leaders that attended the event enjoyed themselves.

More photos of the event can be found at:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/stevejb68/sets/72157625840936002/

I was probably a 13 year old Boy Scout when I attended my first Ripley Rendezvous. This annual event was sponsored by the Central Minnesota Council, BSA, and the Camp Ripley National Guard Base, located north of Little Falls, Minnesota. It was a weekend event which brought hundreds of Boy Scouts together. The Scout troops slept in the barracks, ate in the dining halls, and had plenty of activities to have fun with. One activity that I will always remember is when Billy Kid, the Olympic skier, gave us skiing instructions. I think I even got his autograph.

When I became an adult leader for my home troop I once again began attending the Ripley Rendezvous. Our troop has not missed many of them during the last thirty years. The boys have always had a great time and enjoy being on the base. One of their highlights has been visiting the camp’s military museum.

Scouts will once again gather at Camp Ripley this weekend for the sixth state-wide Ripley Rendezvous. Thousands of Boy Scouts and adult leaders from five councils will be in attendance. The boys will participate in one of three age-based activity areas. It will be a jamboree-style event with all troop staying in tents and cooking meals by patrol.

Rumor has it that this could be the last Ripley Rendezvous. Our council does not have one listed on next year’s schedule. I have not heard the official reason for this, but I would bet it has something to do with the base becoming a very busy place over the last years. Hopefully, in the near future, things will settle down and the Rendezvous tradition can continue once again.

I know the 2010 National Jamboree is now a part of history, but there is a video posted by the Boy Scouts of America that packs a lot of activities into a minute long video. It is called “Dear Mom”, and it is this week’s featured video. Watch it and let us know what you think of it.

100 Days Of Scouting: Day 29 .

Wow! I never expected to see something like this posted to Youtube by the BSA. But I think it is very well done. Welcome to Patrol Z, an action comic strip to promote the next Jamboree at The Summit. This video kicks off a program by the BSA to recruit Scouts with tech savvy skills. According to the Patrol Z website:

“WANTED:MULTIMEDIA, WEB-SAVVY SCOUTS

The Summit needs campfire stories. Digital ones. And we need you to tell them online. Scouts with skills – making videos, producing quality photos, writing blog posts. Designers and web developers, too.

We’re putting together a team. That’s Patrol Z.”

Do you have what it takes to be a member of Patrol Z? For more information check out the site at https://summit.scouting.org/en/PatrolZ/Pages/default.aspx
But in the meantime watch the video below. (As I write this the video has received 338 views.)

What do you think about this idea?

100 Days Of Scouting: Day 24

Bryan Wendell, the writer of the Bryan On Scouting blog (formally known as the Cracker Barrel) wrote an article today that I found to be quite interesting. He wrote about Memorabilia Monday. He encouraged readers to send in a picture of something from their Scouting collection along with a short description. I thought it was a great idea. I left him a comment to tell him I was going to steal his idea for my blog.

I have been collecting Scouting memorabilia for over 30 years. The collection includes Boy Scout and Cub Scout handbooks, patches, coffee mugs, novels, and plenty of other things. I thought I had enough stuff to write a Memorabilia Monday article for several weeks, so I sat down to make an outline. I came up with enough “themes” for 45 posts. That would take me through November of this year. Today will be the first post.

One of the highlights of my Scouting career was attending the 2001 National Jamboree as the scoutmaster of Troop 1417. While at the jambo, I began trading jamboree council shoulder patches, also known as csp’s. I came home with a few dozen of them and have been adding to the collection during the last nine years.

The patches are kept in a three ring binder, organized in clear pages that contain from a two to six patches each. Even the larger patches and patch sets are protected by plastic sheet protectors.

Most of the collection is made up of single patch sets, or only one or two patches from a set. I have been lucky enough over the years to add a few complete sets of csp’s from a few council contingents. It would be fun to post a picture of each patch along with this article but there are too many of them. I settled on showing a small portion of the collection. The pictures are thumbnails. Click on any one to see the larger view.

By the way, if you have any patches from the 2001 National Jamboree that you do not want any longer be sure to write me a note. I may be able to help you find a good home for them.

Do not forget to check out “Bryan On Scouting” located at http://blog.scoutingmagazine.org/

This is fantastic news, or as Buttons the radical Boy Scout would say, “Totally awesome!”  The World Jamboree will be coming to the United States this decade. According to the Boy Scouts of America Facebook page:

Great news!

The Summit Bechtel Family National Scout Reserve has been chosen as the site for World Scout Jamboree 2019! Make sure you head over to their Facebook and congratulate them! The North American Scout Associations (Boy Scouts of America, Scouts Canada, and the Scout Association of Mexico) won the bid to host the 24th World Scout Jamboree.

Are you going to make plans to attend?

A couple weeks ago I went onto eBay and had a bidding binge on various sets of 2001 National Jamboree council shoulder patches. It had been awhile since I worked on my collection and I thought it was time to add a few more patches to the collection. There was a nice selection for sale that evening. I think I must have bid on several auctions, most of them sets of patches but also a few individuals. Most of the auctions went for more than I was willing to pay, but I did win a couple.

I received the 2001 Jamboree Orange County Council CSP seven patch set in the mail today. I am impressed. I had seen one or two of these patches when I was at the Jamboree, but I was not able to even think about getting the set of patches. I was able to buy the patches through the auction at a very reasonable price: $14.00 plus $2.50 for shipping. The patches are in mint condition and have not been worn. This is a great addition to my collection.

I also won an auction for a patch I did not even know existed. It is labeled as the 2001 National Jamboree Scouting Collectors of Minnesota. There seems to be a patch for each of the 50 states. According to the auction site only ten patches were made for each state, each with the same design but a different color scheme. I find that to be a little hard to believe because that very same night I found another of the same patch up for sale. If that is true, I now own 20% of these patches. The value of the patches seem to be directly based on the state. Minnesota was very reasonably priced. New York patches are quite a bit higher priced.

I do collect council shoulder patches from all times and all councils, but the 2001 National Jamboree holds a special place in my collection since I attended as a scoutmaster for Central Minnesota Council 1417. Our patch featured Paul Bunyan and Babe, the blue ox.

This year’s closing arena program at the BSA’s 2010 National Jamboree was “totally awesome”, as Buttons would say. The Boy Scouts and adult leaders were entertained by Alex Boyé (who sang “Born To Be A Scout” from Scout Camp, The Movie”, national recording artist Switchfoot, and Mike Rowe, from Dirty Jobs. I watched the show online, and to tell the truth, it made me wish I was there to experience it.

I attended the 2001 National Jamboree. Our closing arena show was postponed one night due to storms moving through the area. Unfortunately, the acts and guests that were scheduled to appear, including President Bush, were not able to make it the following evening. The show became a program presented and performed by the participants at the Jamboree, just like a council camporee campfire program. And to tell the truth, it turned out to be a great closing program.

I recently came across a bit of information that caught my attention about the 1953 National Jamboree and discovered the arena shows featured well known Hollywood stars including Jane Powell, Hank Ritter, Debbie Reynolds, Will Rogers Jr., and Danny Kaye. But the person that really caught my eye was the emcee of the show, Bob Hope! I had no idea that Bob Hope had a connection to Boy Scouting.

I did some quick research on the internet and discovered that Bob Hope must have had a great relationship with the BSA. The Boy Scouts of America bestowed their highest honor on Bob Hope by presenting him with the Silver Buffalo Award. I do not think many people living today in Hollywood can boast about receiving that award.

I also discovered that Bob Hope starred in a movie, titled The Great Lover, in which he was the Scout leader for a group of Boy Scouts during a cruise. According to one description of the movie, “Mr. Hope stars as Freddie Hunter, a reporter who is chaperoning a troop of scouts aboard a ocean liner. The scouts see it as their duty to save Freddie from himself by making sure he doesn’t smoke, drink or enjoy the hug of a woman “other than his Mom”. The fact that the head boy of the troop is the son of Freddie’s boss doesn’t help Freddie when he decides to flirt with the Duchess Alexandria. But women are the least of Freddie’s troubles. There is a killer on board. This killer decides to frame Freddie for his murderous deeds. Fortunately, there is a detective on board, hot on the trail of the true murderer, but wait, Freddie discovers the body of the murdered detective. How will Freddie prove his innocence?”

Unfortunately, many of today’s Boy Scouts probably do not know who Bob Hope was, and how he was so much more than a Hollywood star. In his own way he was a fantastic leader in this country. He was always one of my favorites when I was young, and know that I now he was a great supporter of the Scouting program, he just went up another notch in my book.