Posts Tagged ‘display’


Melrose Scout Troop 68 held their annual fall meal fundraiser on Friday, October 25. The troop had a good turnout and served up a lot of spaghetti. The Scouts set tables, cleared tables, washed dishes and helped serve some of the food and beverages. Parents were in charge of the kitchen and serving the food.

One of my jobs was to set up a Scouting display. I tried to make it a little different then previous fundraiser but a few things stay the same. Of course, I included several photo albums featuring pictures of troop meetings and Scouting events. There were also some framed group pictures and both of my patch blankets. I stayed away from the small bookcases along with all the various handbooks and nicknacks this time. In their place I included a copy of framed posters and two binders of newspaper clippings of Scouting events through out the last several years. The merit badge poster was somewhat popular with the Scouts.

What do you think of the display? Leave a comment to let us know what was your favorite item.

Planning the display.

Melrose Scout Troop 68 has held two meal fundraisers per year for over three decades. During the last few years the troop has held a breakfast in the spring and a supper in the fall. This fall’s meal will be held tonight, October 25, at the Melrose American Legion. The spaghetti supper will be served from 5:00 to 8:00.

One of my jobs during the fundraiser is to plan and set up a Scouting display for people to view before and after their meal. The display features items I have collected over the decades and photo albums of the troop activities. Last night I gathered the materials for tonight’s display.

The background of the display will feature the two patch blankets I made with the patches I collected during my thirty years serving as the troop’s scoutmaster. I plan to cover two tables with items. The photo albums will use a large portion of the tables but I also plan to show a merit badge poster and a shadow box of Scouting ranks. Scouting themed popcorn tins will serve as centerpieces on some of the tables. Handbooks, framed photos, and a few miscellaneous items will finish the display.

I did not set up the display at home before packing it into the car, but I have a good idea what I want it to look like when it is set up at the Legion. Stay tuned for an upcoming article which will show you what it looked like when it was finished.

Do you set up a Scouting display at your fundraiser? What do you include with them. Leave a comment and let us know.

Boy Scout display.

If you read the previous post then you know I was putting together a display for Boy Scout Troop 68’s spring fundraiser, the pancake and sausage breakfast. I made a comment that I would post a picture of what the display looked like at the breakfast, so here it is. What do you think of it?

boy scout memorabilia

Boy Scout Troop 68 of Melrose holds two meal fundraisers each year. The spring meal is usually a pancake and sausage breakfast that includes scrambled eggs. The fall meal has been a spaghetti supper for the last few years. The troop does well with both fundraisers and is able to keep up with the yearly expenses.

The 2019 spring breakfast fundraiser takes place this weekend at the Melrose American Legion. The parents will be working in the kitchen while the Scouts take care of the tables and the dishes. I will probably do the same thing I have done for the last thirty years, pour coffee, visit with the people who come by for breakfast, and keep an eye on the Scouts to make sure they get their work done.

Another of the jobs I have, and one that I really have made my own, is to create a table top display for the meal. I began to take items out last night to prepare for Sunday’s meal. As you can see from the picture I will have both Cub Scouting and Boy Scouting items in this year’s display. The Cub Scout Pack has been doing well and I wanted to include something for the elementary aged children.

One item not shown in the picture is the patch blanket I plan to hang. I may even bring both of them. I do have clothing racks that work very well to display them. Add in a few photo albums and I think there will be enough Scouting memorabilia for families to view.

How often do you set up a Scouting display in your community? What do you include in it? When do you set it up? Leave a comment and let us know about it.

Cub Scout Display

A parent of one of the Boy Scouts of Melrose Area Troop 68 approached me after a troop meeting last month. She is a member of the Cub Scout Pack committee and asked if I could put together a Scouting display for the Blue and Gold Banquet which would be held on Tuesday, February 26. Well, of course, I said yes.

I have been an adult leader in Scouting for over 38 years so I have accumulated a lot of Scouting related items including handbooks, training materials, mugs, patches, and even stuff animals. Putting together a tabletop display would not be too difficult.

The weekend before the banquet I began to think about the display. I wanted it to be Cub Scout themed, of course, with something to catch the attention of both the Scouts and their families.Maybe something with various colors to attract the eye.

I began with the backdrop. One of my patch blankets would serve that purpose. The dozens of patches would attract attention with all the colors and designs. I chose my second blanket since the patches were closer to the date. I own a clothing rack so hanging it would not be a problem.

I made a decision to showcase the history of Cub Scouting with the other items. I chose that theme partially because the older handbooks have better cover designs than the current books. Since I was limited to a table top I could only choose a book or two from each grade level. I also used a couple of adult leader handbooks.

I added a large Norman Rockwell print of a Boy Scout teaching a couple Cub Scouts a new skill for one corner of the table. I finished the display with some Cub Scout awards, an old Cub Scout cap, and a few Scouting themed stuff animals. The table was nicely filled but not so much that it would look cluttered.

The display went over pretty well at the Blue and Gold Banquet. I saw both Scouts and parents checking it out. I guess you could say my mission was accomplished.

Did you have a display at your Blue and Gold? What was your theme? What did it include? Let us know by leaving a comment.

IMG_0638School Night To Join Scouting will be held throughout Minnesota on Thursday, September 22nd. This year’s theme is “Heroes Start Here”, which nicely fits in with the current wave of superhero movies and television shows. I have to say, I like this theme better the the Rocket Into Scouting used over the last few years.

As the recruitment event approaches there are a few other things we can do as a pack and troop to prepare for the big evening. One of these to to have a table set up at the local schools’ open houses coming up next week. The idea is to get Scouting out in front of the boys and parents early so they can begin to think about everything this program can offer their families.

Of course, if we are going to have a table at a school’s open house we will need someone to sit at that table and hand out materials, and answer any questions. We have three elementary schools in our area at we would like to have a table set up. St. Mary’s Catholic School has their open house on Tuesday, August 23rd. The Melrose Public Elementary School has theirs on Wednesday, the 24th. Sacred Heart Catholic School in Freeport has theirs on Thursday, the 25th. I believe each school is holding the event from 4:00 to 7:00 in the evening.

I have been preparing a few items to place on the table to try to catch the attention of the boys and, more importantly, their parents. The picture shows a few items I have thought about having on display. A Pack committee member, who attended this month’s kickoff at a district meeting earlier this month, also has a few items from the council to add to the display, including flyers about School Night To Join Scouting.

We will need people to sit at the tables. Jesse, our new assistant cubmaster, has agreed to sit at the Sacred Heart School open house. I may be able to attend the Wednesday night one, but I have a Boy Scout event I wish to attend on Tuesday. Hopefully some parents will come through and volunteer a bit of their time to get out the word about Scouting.

Does your troop or pack set up a table during your school’s open house? What do you set out on the table. Leave a comment and let us know. Thanks.

bookstandI have been on the Melrose Area History Museum board of directors for a little over a year now. I have been finding it to be interesting. I have a feeling that if I am still on the board when I am old enough to retire from work I may spend quite a bit of time there helping out with various projects. Unfortunately, since I am working full time I do not get to spend very much time with the museum, other than going to board meetings.

Since Boy Scouting and Cub Scouting are such a big part of my life, I have been trying to do little things at the museum to improve the Scouting display and make it look better. I do mean little things. A year ago I built a little Scouting coffee mug stand for the display case and provided enough Scouting themed mugs to display on it. This past winter I printed and framed a photo of each of the troop’s Eagle Scouts (of the last thirty years) for the museum. Previous articles to this blog describe these projects in more detail.

My latest project is more of an experiment. The Scouting display has a few handbooks and other misc. books that people can only see the edge binding of because we really do not have good way to display them. I have decided to try making a book display using some odd jamb material found at the lumber yard I work at. The moulding gives the backboard a slight back tilt which should help display the books, but yet keep enough weight at the bottom of the rack to keep the display from tipping over.

The picture above shows the display before I painted it white this past weekend. I am thinking of looking through my Scouting collection to find doubles of Cub Scout handbooks since there is not very much Cub Scout related material in the display yet. If this display works well, I plan to make one or two more for the cases. After all, the museum display already has some books that need to be shown off better then they currently are displayed.