Klondike Derby Opening/Closing

[The Blancmange]

Our district is resurrecting the Klondike Derby after a decade or so hiatus, and I am helping to plan it. We have our slate of events, but I am looking for ideas for an interesting and fun for opening and closing, beyond a simple flag ceremony. Possibly something to tie it in to the historical aspects of the event.

 

Thanks in advance for any ideas.

[SSScout]

Chilkoot Pass... Jack London Call of the Wild and White Fang... Robert Service's poetry (Crematory of Sam Mcgee, The Heart of the Sourdough, The Spell of the Yukon...),

Do a little about the history of Alaska, buying it from the Russians, how people thought it a "worthless frozen waste..." Include the Alaska flag?

Short skit about the Canadian Mounties (Sargent Preston of the Yukon? shows my age, I guess and the Klondike IS in Canada...) Yukon Territories have their own flag...

North Slope oil?

Ice Road Truckers?

Include Inuit people? Tell some of their legends and tales around the flag and fire?

Ookpik...

[ScoutBox]

WOw! dont remember any of that at the last Klondyke I was at.. Will see in three weeks what happens..

[shortridge]

Try reading in Inuktitut, the language spoken by the Inuit peoples of Nunavut, Canada: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inuktitut

 

Save the Cremation of Sam McGee for a dramatic campfire recitation (NOT reading - needs to be memorized through-and-through). It's grand if done properly with the right theatrics and intonations.

[Kamelian]

Don't forget about the Alaskan Gold Rush and how it played a major part in getting the state explored & settled. Wyatt Earp and his later wife, Josie, were known to have been involved with mining and gold speculation in that area for quite a few years after the Tombstone AZ incidents, before they retired to California.

 

We have a Klondike style winter camporee activity in our local district, but we don't always have snow on the weekend when it's usually held - some years it gets colder than a well-digger's toes, but we don't get snow most of the time

 

We have a rotating schedule of about 15 to 20 event activities, choosing about 10 to 12 each year and using a few of them every single year. We select stuff for the younger boys & girls (Webelos, Scouts & Girl Scouts from 9 through 15), and stuff for the older kids who've been at more than 2 or 3 of the events. Kids of any age, and particularly the younger ones, always enjoy a zip line, monkey bridge, on-the-spot fire building to either make a signal fire (to burn through a string so many inches above the wood) or to cook a simple food item (egg, pancake, etc.). We've had hatchet throwing, black powder (older kids), target shooting with arrows (older kids). The older kids who've been in more than 3 or 4 events & have many of their outdoor skills badges might show their first aid & rescue skills for such outdoor accidents as axe injuries, bear attacks, ravine rescues --- and even tracking. The guys who've been there & done it all (like, over 16 & attended more than 5 events) can help with managing the locations where the activities take place.

 

Once in a while we have a "ravine" (an area marked "RAVINE" that's about 8 or 10 feet wide & about 20 feet long, cordoned off with yellow tape). There's a rope strung about 6 or 7 feet off the ground between two sturdy trees on either side of the "ravine", and the patrol has to figure out how to get all their guys and all their equipment across from one side of the marked area to the other side without touching the ground inside the taped-off area, or dropping anything or anybody into it.

 

Sometimes the camp committee does a "sled dog pull" (patrol leader is on the sled, patrol members are the "dogs"), and if there's no snow, we change it up a little. Sometimes we have a blindfold operation where the "dogs" are blindfolded & holding the sled ropes, and the PL on the sled has to talk everyone through a maze using verbal instructions & directions. Each activity is judged with points (up to 5), and the points for this activity are based on enthusiasm & scout spirit, leadership & quality of instructions, ability of the patrol to pay attention & successfully follow the instructions with the least amount of trouble, lowest number of mistakes or tip-overs, and speed getting through the course.

 

After stopping for activities in about 12 or so areas, once every one of the patrol teams has completed the course, the team with the most points at the end of the day wins. Prizes for the camporee can be any kind of replica gold rush tool with a custom logo or painted event information on it. Date & camporee name, 1st, 2nd, 3rd place, plus any special prizes.

 

 

 

[moxieman]

Nothing fancy for our opening after the Pledge to the flag. In the past, we have done a staggered timed-start to a destination point (roughly a half-mile down the trail). This timed race is used a tie-breaker at the end of the day should two patrols finish with the same score.

 

End of the day ceremony is simply awarding the prizes. We don't give trophies. We give camping/troop gear. Top patrol gets first pick. Then second place and so on down to fifth place. Gear we've given away have included camp stoves, griddles, lanterns, the 4 scout picnic table you can build out of a sheet of plywood, coolers, etc.

 

Top patrol doesn't always choose the most expensive item. They choose the item they believe their unit could use the most.