Scout-O-Rama 1972
When Scout Advancement Took A Backseat
  

The year was 1972. I was a high school junior and a teenager with those billions and billions of male hormones. But I was still a scout, and now a member of the Senior Patrol who had advanced to the rank of Life Scout, the rank before Eagle. This is the scout rank where I'd remain until I was bumped up to adult scouting when rank meant nothing more than what you did as a kid, unless you were an Eagle Scout. Being a member of the Senior Patrol was one of power and responsibility. All the guys looked up to me as I was the oldest scout on the active roster. My nickname changed to "Dictionary" or "Encyclopedia" as that was how I was treated...like a source of information. But getting back to the fact about being a high school junior, I developed outside interests that would eventually halt additional advancement. Yes, I had a girlfriend. That changed everything.

Scout-O-Rama has always been the big show for the scouts. Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts, Sea Scouts, Explorer Scouts and even the girl units (Brownies and Girl Scouts) gathered at a large display area and DID scouting. Tickets were sold at a dollar a ticket for the event.





If a scout sold enough tickets, he could be eligible for a nice prize (I still have my scout pocketknife). Booths were set up for individual scout units to exhibit expertise in crafts, knots, cooking, camping and almost all kinds of merit badge topics. Units who were musically inclined performed onstage. The cubs would display and race their pinewood derby cars or their rain gutter regatta boats.




In 1972 our unit decided to combine our Asian heritage with a unique scout skill The scout skill was "lashings", tying sticks or poles together by wrappings and frappings to form useful constructions (i.e., tripods, bridges, living structures, towers). The gimmick in our booth was that we were able to reconstruct an entire campsite using chopsticks and heavy string. The heavy string allowed us to show in detail the lashings and knots used to tie the chopsticks together. The troop spent weekends wrapping and frapping the display.

So where does the girlfriend fit into all of this you may ask? Well at the meeting before the big event, we were polled as to how many dinners we needed our parent/alumni association to make for the evening of the Scout-O-Rama. After all, Scout-O-Rama was an all day and almost an all night event. The expected response from each scout was "one" or "none". When I replied "two" followed by a sheepish grin, all eyes turned to me. I was both embarrassed and somewhat honored when I heard the oohs and aahs.  Finally the guys thought of me as one of them and someone to admire......"he's got a girlfriend"





How did this come about? Well, that is yet another story and one that does not belong in this section. Needless to say, my girlfriend and I had fun at our first date (yes, it was our first date together, and it was also my very first date). She actually seemed quite comfortable in the environment and even participated in the crafts booth, where she weaved together a fish made entirely of wide gift ribbon.


The dinner was a quarter chicken with macaroni salad, veggies and a drink. Imagine, a dinner and show.....a pre-cursor of what was to come.

Some would say that this particular Scout-O-Rama was the last of it's kind -- the last of it's magnitude. Scouts from the entire San Francisco Bay Area and beyond participated. The event was held at the Cow Palace, a site often used by the National Rodeo Association and Ringling Bros Circus. It was a really big show, but it also marked the end of my scouting advancement. For the many years that followed, I'd always end up convincing myself that I made the right choice.....the girl over the Eagle badge.