February 1, 2006
Scouts dig snow festival
200 Cub Scouts attend Winter Wonderland featuring sled races and snow sculptures
By Carol South
Herald contributing writer
From zero to 35 members in two years, Pack 87 at Silver Lake Elementary School is here to stay. This weekend they reached out to other Cub Scout packs and threw a party Saturday that was all boy for more than 200 scouts in the region.
Harnessing his pack's energy and growth, Cubmaster Lee Cobb, a father of three boys himself, spearheaded the First Annual Winter Wonderland event. Attendees from seven different packs gathered at the East Silver Lake Park in Garfield Township for hours of sledding, races, snow sculpture competitions and fun. The day also featured demonstrations of outdoor cooking and equipment plus a chance to snowshoe on equipment donated by Back Country Sports.
"I raced, really liked that," said Tylus Francisco, 11, a member of Pack 22 based at Cherry Knoll Elementary School. "We had a good sled, built a racing sled."
The scouts started the festivities by teaming up to build snow sculptures. Despite the bright sunshine wreaking havoc on the minimal snow, scout packs crafted two turtles, an igloo, a volcano, a shark, a brown bear (think mud,) a cross and a very realistic snowmobile.
"It's just lots of fun outdoor stuff to do," said Eric Liggett, whose three sons are members of Pack 22. "This is great. It's the first time we've done stuff with all the other packs."
Older Cub Scouts, called Weebolos, in fourth and fifth grades, built one-cub sleds with used cross-country skis as the base. One-cub meant the sled had to hold one Cub Scout, usually a younger one for lighter weight, who was propelled over the course by three of his pack mates. Some pushed, some pulled and some pulled and pushed to cross the finish line.
"It was interesting to see what kind of propulsion they used," noted Cobb, whose pack took first place in the event - probably more for creative design than outright speed.
"In our pack, it was a heated debate," he added. "When you get fourth and fifth graders together, they all want to be in charge."
The third event was a cardboard-and-duct-tape sled race down the park's steep hill. While the lack of snow and sunshine prompted organizers to move the starting point halfway down the hill, participants relished the ride.
They used donated tape from Max's and cardboard from Ace Hardware and plumbed their creativity to make their craft. The sleds ranged from a pickle, school bus and rocket to a penguin, Space Shuttle and medical sled. A few contestants took the simpler route and painted a box or slid down on a piece of cardboard. This approach had merit as some of the more complex sleds were top heavy or slow.
No matter the speed or vehicle, sledding was a huge hit for the boys, both before, during and after the race.
"By the time we got down there on the big hill, there was nothing soft to land on," said Logan Simerson, 8, of Pack 22.
Cobb conceived of the Winter Wonderland as a day for these younger scouts to participate in outdoor activities. They settled on winter fun because many children have busy summer schedules with vacations or sports.
"Me and the dads got to talking that it would be really nice to do something for the Cub Scouts," said Cobb, a former Cub Scout and Boy Scout. "The Boy Scouts have Jamborees and we decided this would be something neat."
With the event's success, organizers are already thinking about next year's Winter Wonderland.
"One of the things Cub Scouts can do is snowmobile so next year we're going to have a couple of dads bring snowmobiles and we're also going to have some dog sleds," Cobb said. "We're going to try to add something every year."