AirCamp 2010 by Blackhawk Area Council

Wow! The AirCamp team did a great job.  I've been traveling since and haven't had a chance to post on the camporee.  There were numerous activities including a zip line, paint ball, and pistol shooting that the scouts were able to participate in.  Along with the camporee, the EAA Young Eagles offered free flights to some of the scouts.  We had about 4700 participants including over 100 units that camped the weekend.  We had scouts from several other councils attend as well and received some very nice emails from them following the event.



Mountain Boarding



Milk Crate Stacking

One thing that we often take for granted is the number of volunteers we have in Blackhawk Area Council willing to give of their time and expertise to help plan and operate an activity as large as AirCamp.  Many of the emails received from outside our council commented at how impressed they were that we were able to put on such an event.  There are many councils that don't even attempt something of this magnitude.



Before



After

The work toward what would become AirCamp 2010 started three years with council wide focus groups to decide what types of activities we would be conducting at the council level for the 100th Anniversary.  One of the activities selected was to have a council camporee.  About two years ago Bill Mugnai agreed to take the role of chairman for the event and spent the next two years recruiting a core team that consisted of Mark Broman (Program), Jim Behrensmeyer (Program), Marilyn Behrensmeyer (Finance), Jeff Moritz (Registration), Mike McCleary (Health & Safety), Tom Siefken (Communications), and Dan Banko (Logistics).  Ed Allen acted as advisor to the committee and stepped in to handle logistics when Dan Banko had health problems.  This group worked for two years to bring AirCamp to life.



Colonel Roosevelt Addresses the Troops



There were many other people who played key roles such as Fran Waller (Cub Scout Program), Ed Colson (Boy Scout Program), Fareen Parkitney and Eve Schroeder (Venturing Program), Chuck Natoli (Subcamp Coordinator), Alan Broadfield (Static Displays), Steve Pierson (EAA), and Bill Nattress (Arena Show).  All contributed a great deal of time to planning and conducting the event.  There were volunteers working at the airport most of the week before the event including Gene Barney who put in the poles used for the zip line and spar pole climbing and Rich Horn who marked out the entire site.  Not to mention the hundred or so other volunteers helping with registration, program, parking, etc.

Thanks to everyone involved in the event.

If you have any pictures please link them to the Blackhawk Area Council Facebook page from your home page.

October 12, 2009

Wow, I can't believe it has been three weeks since I last updated the blog. I've been so busy getting the chandeliers done for the Boeger Leadership Lodge in my spare time its taken away from my updates. Anyway here's some of the latest.

Work continues on the Boeger Leadership Lodge with the tile and wood floors being completed.

The kitchen equipment was installed last week.

And the lights are progressing.

Which is good because we are now generating power with our solar cells.

I was out at Canyon Camp to visit with representatives from the Natural Land Institute and the DNR about the Wiley property that the NLI recently acquired. We took a tour of Canyon Camp as a part of the meeting.

The weekend before last was the Sycamore District Camporee. It was a different event in that most of the competition was held at night with activities like the rifle and archery ranges and climbing wall were open during the day. Congratulations to Troop 152 who won the competition and Troop 456 that won the spirit award.

Last weekend was a trip to Kansas City with Dave Savone, Dan Banko, and Mike Condon to the Wood Badge Course Directors Conference. I was asked by Dave to help staff the course.

Somewhere in there was a day in the kitchen for the second weekend of the Wood Badge course.