T648 recently helped plan and staff the 3rd annual spine-tingling yet educational event, R-BOO-C Halloween Fun Camp for Valley cub scouts. This event brings Scouts, their families, action and a bit of slimy spookiness together for a weekend of unforgettable adventures. The Friday night through Sunday morning activities included a hayride, bb gun shooting, archery, fun with science, mutant crawdads, Halloween costumes and themed events, and awesome food, in a cool wooded location. This year, almost 500 participants, including 170+ Cub youth, 140+ adult participants, 140+ Scouts BSA youth and adult staff, and unexpected guests such as zombies and aliens came together for this spookily fun event. R-BOO-C offered many exciting activities, from making alien slime to traversing the Tunnel of Terror, dry ice bubbling acid, screaming balloons, catching and racing crawdads, creating blood in Dracula’s Kitchen, and firing off the giant smoke cannons. A Webelos/ AOL Zombie Apocalypse was also introduced, challenging participants in fun competitions, as was a pumpkin carving contest with dozens of entries. The annual costume fashion contest while strutting and dancing down the runway to music, terrific food, and closing campfire and skits were a hit as usual. Our T648 scouts and adults had the responsibility to work with a couple of trained range-masters in delivering the complete BB gun and Archery sessions for the cub packs all day long, and to no one’s surprise, being on the ranges with guns, bows and arrows were a huge highlight for most cub scouts in attendance. Our boy scouts were patient throughout the long day in working one-on-one with children, and celebrating with them as their individual results improved even in such a short time. R-BOO-C offered Scouts BSA youth the opportunity to play a significant role in teaching skills throughout the event, while cub youth learned about conservation efforts, like dealing with invasive crayfish species, and practicing Leave No Trace principles, but mostly just having loads of good old fashioned tiring fun. Our boys agreed that it was a ton of work (we also did R-BOO-C build, tear-down, and kitchen duty) but have already made commitments and plans to assist in R-BOO-C’s return in 2024, scheduled for October 4-6. Hope you can come!
