Centennial Camporee May 21st-23rd

Article submitted by Zach Bailey

Great job troop 201! Our gateway won first place in our whole district! Not only that, but our campsite also won first place in our district!

On Friday we all loaded our gear into a car and rode to the Spokane fairgrounds. When we got there we were given a ticket to give to someone at the front gate, who would then give us a wristband that would let us go in and out of the gate without having to pay. After we set up camp, we got to eat and play a bit before going to the opening ceremony.

At the opening ceremony, Ed Harrell, a former US Marine that helped guard the world’s first atomic bomb aboard the USS Indianapolis, told the story of how after the ship made its delivery, it was torpedoed by a Japanese sub and sank in 12 minutes. He, along with some of his fellow crewmates, survived for 4 and a half days in shark infested waters.

When the ceremony was over, we went back to camp for an activity. We all got cards that spelled out friendship. Each troops’ cards had different letters on it; our troops letter was P. We had to go around finding people with all of the letters that spell out friendship, and have them sign under that letter, and write their troop number. Once we got all the letters signed we turned them in to get a piece of candy. After that was done, it was light’s out.

The next morning, we put up our huge gateway. It took most of our troop to help lash the wooden poles together and secure it into place. The gateway turned out great. We were then able to go and have pancakes for breakfast. The rest of the day was spent doing activities and watching demonstrations at the fairgrounds, such as: a SWAT demonstration, paintballing, a Civil War reenactment battle, a rock wall, and many more things.

In the evening we went to the grand stands for the “Evening of Astonishment”, which was a magic act performed by Giovanni. Following that magic act, there was an amazing fireworks show. When that was over, we went back to camp to go to sleep.

The next day, after we packed up all our stuff, we were able to do whatever we wanted to do as long as we were at the grand stands by 9:00 A.M for the Scout’s Own Service. Reverent Percy “Happy” Watkins led the service. After the service, we headed home.

more pics http://troop201.smugmug.com/Scouts/2010Events/CentennialCamporee