Wagons Ho!

Amidst all the rain, drizzle and fog of recent weeks, for one brief day the skies cleared, the sun shone, and Cub Scouts from all over the South Shore enjoyed a day of fun and friendship at the 2011 “Chuckwagon “ , held at Camp Squanto on May 21.

My younger son has been a Cub Scout for three years. As a Webelo, he participated in the Klondike Derby this past winter. For the uninitiated (that would be me), the Derby allows Scouts to demonstrate their skills in fire building, tent assembly, first aid, citizenship and a host of other areas. As they drag their sled from station to station, the scouts earn points, and winning packs are acknowledged at the end of the day. This year’s Klondike happened to fall on one of the coldest days of the winter. Add in all the snow we received this year and it made for a challenging day. My husband, knowing my intolerance for the cold (“You won’t last 20 minutes”) graciously offered to take my son to the Klondike while I enjoyed the comforts of central heating.

Fast forward four months to The Chuckwagon Derby, an event designed purely for fun. Scouts decorate a wagon according to a theme, don costumes and parade through Camp Squanto, and then spend the day participating in fun activities. Given that the event is held in (relatively) warm weather (and my husband’s prior commitment to coach my other son’s soccer team), it was my turn to chaperone.

This year’s theme was Disney. My son’s pack chose “Toy Story”; an ordinary wagon was decorated with a camouflage tank constructed entirely of cardboard boxes and tubes. A large round bin that had served as a recycling bucket in a previous life was painted to look like Andy’s Bucket of Soldiers. Each scout was decked out in army green pants, jackets, helmets and boots, looking for all the world like those plastic soldiers featured in the film. I guess my son isn’t the only one who frequents the Army/Navy store.

I spied a few other Toy Story wagons that day, as well as a group of scouts in white t-shirts with black spots (a nod to “101 Dalmatians”) and several “Maters” from the film “Cars”. However, there was a plethora of pirates. Apparently the release of Disney’s fourth “Pirates of the Caribbean” film inspired quite a few dens to don eye patches and bandanas in hopes of channeling the soul of Captain Jack Sparrow. This was no surprise given that many Disney films revolve around princesses; of course the scouts were going to choose movies that embrace guns and swords.

The boys visited stations throughout the day that combined scouting skills and general kid fun. The “Magic Carpet Ride” had scouts creating a stretcher from a blanket and two poles, toting teammates around to several points where they could answer questions about Disney movies. At “Space Mountain” they built homemade rockets from colored paper and launched them into space with a contraption made of PVC pipe, duct tape and an empty soda bottle. Several rockets got stuck in the treetops, in direct contrast to the “leave no trace” rule. “Mickey’s Monsoon” sounded ominous (we knew water would be involved), and the kids were delighted to find a rig that resembled a reverse dunk tank. Rather than throwing beanbags and dunking an adult in water, the kids attempted to trigger a water balloon to splatter on the grown-up’s head. Had I known that the other parents and I were going to become part of a wet t-shirt contest I would have packed extra clothes for myself in addition to my son’s.

After lunch the boys got down to the good stuff: BB guns and archery. Although many of our scouts were familiar with paintball and air soft guns, my son was a novice. I’m sure that wearing head to toe camouflage fanned the flames of his excitement as he listened carefully to instructions on how to safely load and shoot his weapon. For five glorious minutes the boys blasted away with Red Ryder BB guns (I resisted the urge to yell “You’ll shoot your eye out.”) Upon hearing “ceasefire” they obeyed like good soldiers and waited till it was safe to retrieve their targets. My son proudly held up his paper and showed me his direct hit in the center of the paper. Apparently all those hours spent playing “Call of Duty” on the Wii had paid off.

The packs headed back to the parade field mid-afternoon for the judging results. Each group had been given voting slips at the beginning of the parade with the opportunity to vote for best wagon design and best costumes. The kids in my son’s pack were ecstatic when they heard their pack number called as the third place winners for both wagon design and costume (First and second place in each category went to pirates…surprise).

At the end of closing ceremonies, the scouts and their families were given the option of setting up camp and staying for a campfire and skits. Tired but happy, my son opted to head home to show his older brother his prized BB target and tell about his day. In all, the Chuckwagon was an experience neither of us would forget.

So you still may not see me at the Klondike Derby next winter, (even if it’s a mild winter) but you can bet I’ll jump aboard the Chuckwagon in 2012.