Blue & Gold Banquet / Pinewood Derby

Pack Meeting, Fundraiser, & Tournament

20 February 2010

February is typically a busy month for our pack, with several major events. This year we decided to try out running the Pinewood Derby and the Blue & Gold Banquet back-to-back on a Saturday. Fortunately, we have a number of active parents, so we were able to pull this off.

Cris Boucher again arranged with PNG High School to allow us to hold the Pinewood Derby in the cafeteria. We set up the wooden, 4-lane track Friday night, though we used only 3 of the lanes. The boys started arriving before 4:30 p.m. Saturday afternoon to check in their cars. By race time, 30 out of our 31 boys registered a car!

We ran the races differently this year. Instead of a double elimination format, we used the chaotic rotation method. This ensured that each car got to race at least 3 times, got to race in each lane against different opponents, and raced against cars with the same number of runs. Based on the first round of results, we had 15 finalists who competed for the 6 speed trophies. The pack winner was Fire Washer, built by a Tiger Cub!

Meanwhile, the Girl Scouts who assisted in running the derby had selected x cars as winners of the various design award trophies. But we all know that everyone is winner when you "Do Your Best!"

Following the presentation of the trophies, we settled in for some dinner. The theme of the Blue & Gold Banquet this year was with Happy Birthday BSA! The pack bought the brisket and each den brought complementary food for the Bar-B-Q birthday party: baked beans, potato salad, cole slaw, and bread. Near the end of the meal we passed out awards, recognizing especially the boys who earned rank, who earned the Summertime Award, and who earned the Complete Scout Award.

We finished off with the Lad N Dad Cake Auction. xx boys (and dads) made cakes. Some of the highlights were a cactus, a tank, a football field, and a red velvet cake. The auction was a huge success, raising over $1,000!