In a year-plus of hand sanitizing, mask wearing and social distancing, scouting for Sequim-area youths never stopped.
Doesn’t hurt when one’s milieu is the great outdoors and you have a 922,000-acre national park in the backyard.
Local scout leaders are looking to boost their troop enrollment with Scouting in Sequim, a recruitment event slated for 10 a.m.-2 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday, May 1-2, in the field between the Vintage at Sequim apartments, 1009 W. Brackett Road, and O’Reilly Auto Parts, 1130 W. Washington St.
The event will look to bring in younger youths to scouts, particularly in the 5 to 10-year-old ranges, Scouts BSA Troop 90 scoutmaster Rene Nadon said.
“The packs are the primary place we get scouts for the troops,” Nadon said.
“Right now, because of COVID, the packs are down to a very minimal amount of scouts. We want to keep scouting alive and well in Sequim.”
While numbers may be down in some packs, numbers — and activities — remain solid for the older troop-level scout groups, noted Peter Craig, committee chair for Scouts BSA Troop 1498.
“We’ve been able to be active all year,” he said.
While other activities have had to shut down, Craig said, scouting has “already demonstrated we’re able to function safely; that appeals to a lot of parents.”
Adults and youths of ages 5-17 are invited to meet with local troops of varying levels, including Scouts BSA Troop 90 and 1498 for young men, Troop 1498 aka 7498 for BSA young women, Cub Pack 4490, Cub Pack 4850 and Venture crew 2223.
“Adults will be able to see the range (of scouting),” Craig said. “There’s a difference between cub and boy scout; this will give them an opportunity to see that.”
Youths don’t need to start at a young age to join scouts, Craig noted — his own troop is mostly populated by word-of-mouth, via friends of friends, rather than growing up through the scout ranks — and the scouts also now serves girls.
At about 1 p.m. on Saturday, scouts will host a flag “retirement” ceremony where American flags are properly disposed.
In addition, some scouts will be on had at about 7 p.m. Saturday to have a campfire, do skits, sing songs and exhibit other scouting activities, Nadon said.
“We do expect people wear masks or face coverings and stay 6 feet (of) distance when possible,” he said.
For more information, contact Nadon at 360-477-0271 or rmnadon@gmail.com, or email to 1498bsa@olypen.com.
