GREENFIELD — About 90 Boy Scouts from Franklin and Hampden counties gathered in Greenfield for a weekend-long ‘Camporee’ where they learned traditional camping techniques.
The event, which started Friday night, was called “Scouting Old School” and is the spring event for the entire Metacomet District. Troop 5 from Greenfield and Troop 9 from Northfield hosted the event, which was held at Camp Avery in Greenfield.
Friday night and Saturday morning the scouts went to stations throughout the campsite and learned different skills like archery, fire building, blacksmithing and shelter building. Then on Saturday afternoon and evening the boys did challenges related to those stations.
Martha Maloney, an event organizer and parent with Troop 5, said that the weekend functions as a way to teach important skills to the scouts outside of summer camp, which not every Boy Scout attends.
Maloney said that for the boys it can also be a really great way to connect and meet other Scouts.
“It’s a really great way to be with a bunch of people you don’t see everyday,” she said.
Beyond that, the boys also get to try a variety of activities that they may not do otherwise.
“They get to try a lot of different activities to maybe spur on an idea for a career or even a hobby,” said Tim Lamere, a Scout Master with a troop in Chesterfield. “But this is just one activity out of hundreds that Scouts can do.”
Cell service in the area is spotty, which Maloney and other scout leaders say is a good thing that keeps the boys present in the moment.
“I have found that no matter what the technology is, whether you give them tools to work with, whether it’s archery, a saw, an axe, and a mission, kids will put down those electronics,” Lamere said.
Organizers said the weather helped with the turnout for the event.
Older boys judged some of the competitions around the site. Benjamin Hunsicker, 15, the senior patrol leader for Troop 5, and Ruari Maloney, 14, were working at the shelter building station.
Beyond running the stations, Troops 5 and 9 have also been organizing the event for about six months.
“We’ve been learning how to plan, which has been really important,” Hunsicker said.
The boys said the younger scouts get a lot out the activities beyond the concrete skills they learn. Both cited teamwork as one of the main things the troops learn, because they have to work together to complete parts of the structure.
Martha Maloney said that having the other scouts plan and execute events like this is teaching them planning skills that will help when they begin working on their Eagle Scout project.
Reach Miranda Davis at 413-772-0261, ext. 280 or mdavis@recorder.com.