Troop Anniversary

[eagle90]

In 2004 our troop will be celebrating its 50th anniversary and we would like to plan some type of gala event. We have been kicking around a kind of high school reunion style dinner or other big event. Anyone have any experience with this sort of thing? We would like to contact as many ex scouts and scouters as possible. I know there are companies that do this sort of thing, but am a total neophyte at this. We do have over a year, but don't want to wait till the last minute and plan something haphazardly. Any help and suggestions and experiences would be appreciated. THANKS!

 

[ozemu]

At a 30 year retirement I helped scan lots of old photo's, added captions (dates, names, silly captions) and someone else did a powerpoint presentation of it all that was played as a cycle all night as a backdrop.

 

Have seen groups posing for photo's in the same positions as a photo from 20 years ago. Interesting to see the two side by side later.

 

 

[lasteagle83]

Eagle90,

 

I'm currently the chairman of my 20-year high school reunion committee, and have had EXCELLENT results using many of the high school reunion sites. (Classmates.com, Reunion.com, Schoolnews.com, and Gradfinder.com). Since all Scouts eventually go to high school, chances are you can search the area high schools, and post on the bulletin boards requesting more info.

You'll have do a good bit of cross-referencing and searching names in old rosters, but you may find a lot more folks than you think through these sites. Classmates and Reunion charge for membership (and only way you can contact or email others is if you are a member); usually $25/yr each if memory serves me correctly.

 

Also, there are a number of search sites that can provide you with addresses/phone numbers of people with similar/matching names; then it's a matter of good old-fashioned phone time to try to find folks. Searching these sites is generally free (AnyWho.com; whitepages.com; yahoo people search), although you'll oftentimes find a good deal of overlap between them.

 

Shoot me a message if you'd like more info on what I've done to find folks for my 20 year high school reunion; I'll be glad to share any ideas with you. Unfortunately, my troop folded in mid-80's (thus my username) after 28 years - still have my uniform with the 25-year patch on it, though.

[k9gold-scout]

Out troop's 50th was this year we celebrated with a Troop-o-ree in a local park. We set up a campsite and did a scout skills demo. We provided a scout cooked lunch for anyone in the park (no charge - no donations). Yes we did gel local elected officials and several past scouts to come by. Best of all the scouts had a good time. After lunch we had a brief awards cermony and we handed out a special troop # patch.