Council Jamborees?

[Scoutfish]

Do councils normally have jamborees?

 

As long as I have been in scouting, I haven't always paid attention to the boy scout side of it, so it is possible my council has had one in the past 5 years and I just didn't know it.

 

I am asking because , if I am reading it right, a fw councils do have a jamboree every now and then. Matter of fact, I was sent a friendly invite a few years ago by a fellow scouter.com member to go to an event in Kinston, NC. I think it was a council jamboree if memory serves me correctly.

[SeattlePioneer]

Usually districts have camporees as part of their outdoor and camping program, but if a council wants to have a camporee I don't see any reason why they couldn't do that.

[qwazse]

The term predates BS. So there's nothing stopping a council from using it. As far as I can recall, however, our council (and in 2010, our area) termed their gatherings camporees.

 

Venturing in our area started to call their gatherings summits, not to be confused with the location at Bechtel!

[Scoutfish]

Well, I know 2 of our 4 ( used to be 8 ) districts take turns hosting camporees.

 

Our distrcit hosts the spring camporee and our neighboring district hosts the fall camporee. Both are open to each other's district.

 

Not sure if the other two districts host any.

 

But proper name aside, do councils usually host a council wide event besides summer camps and such?

 

Maybe state wide jamborees?

 

[Basementdweller]

Our council has a big Jambo type blow out every 3 years like clock work.

 

They are very expensive, $75 a head last year for a Saturday event. Setup friday night, Activities Saturday and tear down Sunday before noon.

 

For your $75 you get the local swat team, Army, navy, marine recruiters, shotgun shoot for the BS's, Naturalist with wild critters from the Department of Natural resources, a mid way of peddlers hocking chinese junk, the BS collectors are their with their displays, a climbing wall, cub push mobile races and a band on saturday night......With food for the weekend the cost runs $90.

 

Zero room for the boys to be active, no ghost in the grave yard, or capture the flag.

 

Not a real good time for anyone.

 

 

 

 

[ZScout5]

In 2010 several councils in the Midwest put on a regional jamboree. However, this may have only been for the anniversary and not a regular event.

[shortridge]

My council did a jamboree a few years back at a state park - Cubs through Venturers. Not a lot of room, everyone crammed into spaces in a field. Activities same as you'd get at summer camp, pretty much.

 

This year is another one. To be held at the council's new still-under construction Cub camp. Should be interesting.

[OldGreyEagle]

The Council I serve does one,

 

 

Its held on Kutztown University in Kutztown Pa. Its three COuncils and involves Cubs, Boy Scouts and Venturers. My good friend Pierre DuMonde will be the Venturing Camp Commissioner, but he prefers the term "Booshway".

 

The event has been held on the grounds of Lehigh University (remenber them DUke fans?)

Nazareth Speedway and 3 times now on the grounds of Kutztown University. I can tell you now that there will be no 150-300 feet between patols, there is barely a foot and a half between units. Cubs and Boy Scouts and Ventureres all camping in their own spots. Its more like a Carnival than a campout.

 

Back when I was a youth we regularly had what was known a a "sidewalk" Campout, in the center of town and it was more of a festival of scouting and exposition that any thing else. This is pretty much the same. From cubs shooting BB guns to Ventureres watching movies in the university swimming pool. Its one big party. Is that wrong?

[Eamonn]

The year after a national jamboree we used to have a Council Wide Special Event, open to Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts and Venturers.

Haven't had one for a long time as the last one just wasn't very good.

I think it ended up just being Troops camping and climbing at Laurel Caverns.

Ea.

[emb021]

"Do councils normally have jamborees? "

 

No, they aren't supposed to.

 

BUT, many councils have COUNCIL CAMPOREES. (tho some may call them something else.

 

In my old council, we had 2 years of district camporees followed by one big council camporee.

 

"The term predates BS. So there's nothing stopping a council from using it."

 

NOT TRUE.

 

The National Council reserves the term "Jamboree" for National and International events. So local councils CAN'T call local events "jamboree" without National approval.

 

[qwazse]

-fish,

 

Sorry, I thought your question was more about the term because I take for granted that every so often councils and areas should host big blow-out events. So let me outline what I see happening in our neck of the woods:

Districts (which are arms of the council) host camping events spring/winter/fall as long as there are units who will contribute.

O/A being the cheerful service arm of council and hosts several events a year for their members. On one of those, they invited cubs to attend.

Venturing Officers Association (VOA) hosts 3 big events a year. One is a set of multi-weekend ski days for Boy Scouts, Cub Scouts, Girl Scouts, and Venturers. Each ski day is open to any type of unit, but nearby scout reservation is available for over nights for specific groups each weekend (first weekend is for Venturers, second for Cubs, third and fourth for Boy-Scouts). I can't speak to the Cub's and Boy's (except to say our troop wasn't interested because they ski at a different resort), but the Venturing "Winter Getaway Weekend" draws units from out-of-council.

Council holds camporees every other year or so. Last year's was a multi-unit event for all program areas. It was so popular they will do it again next year. The plus was a professional fireworks display on the scout reservation (first ever of its type). The down-side was that it was adult led and didn't really account for the diversity of units.

Area VOA hosts one event per year for Venturers. It draws units from all councils and out-of-area. At this age, youth are looking for fellowship-type events out-of-council, so these events are in big demand relative to the size of our programs.

Post 2010 Jambo, the Area held a fall weekend event at Moraine State Park (a former Jambo site) for all youth in all programs from all councils. The Arrowmen really did a bang-up job staffing that one! For me personally, I got to introduce my son to my former SPL, who serves his council the opposite side of the state.

 

 

These big events do draw a lot of kids, but percentage-wise, only a fraction of my youth attend any one of them. You have to be of a certain ilk to put up with hundreds to thousands of campers in your vicinity. Although some folks are clamoring for another big area event, I definitely prefer the smaller VOA events and O/A conclaves that have more youth input in their design and implementation.

[Eagle69]

Here in Arkansas, the Quapaw Area Council usually has a COUNCIL WIDE camporee every other year. It is usually held at the Summer Camp and each District is given an assigned area for camping. Personally I hate them, too many people crammed into too small of a space when you get into assigning camping spots in a big field.

[Oak Tree]

We have a district camporee in the spring and a council camporee in the fall. Our troop doesn't usually attend the council event - too big, too crowded, too much crowd control required.

[infoscouter]

Our council participates in a state-wide camporee every few years. The organization/hosting rotates between the councils in the state.

 

http://www.bsacmc.org/pdfs/2012_Ripley_Rendezvous_Unit_Flyer.pdf

 

A few years ago, for the Centennial, our council held a weekend event for all levels, which included camping for the Boy Scouts and Venturers. It was an enormous event - literally thousands of Scouts & Venturers.

[NJCubScouter]

Here is an article about a "Jersey Jamboree" in 1999:

 

http://www.scoutingmagazine.org/issues/9910/a-dree.html

 

I knew nothing about it at the time, since my son was a Wolf (or so) and I was not even a den leader yet. I have seen people wearing patches for it and I believe they did have the year "1999" on them. I do not believe it has been a recurring event, or I would have heard about the later ones. Based on the article, this use of the word "Jamboree" does seem to have had National sanction, since the person "cutting the ribbon" was the CSE. And I never realized that they had it at Waterloo Village, which is adjacent to Mt. Allamuchy Scout Reservation.