A celebration of all things Scouting filled Chardon Square Sunday as local Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts, Venture Crews and Girl Scout units got stamped and had fun.
A celebration of all things Scouting filled Chardon Square Sunday as local Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts, Venture Crews and Girl Scout units got stamped and had fun.
“The Scouting program has offered my son and I opportunities to strengthen our bonds, to share memorable events and to ensure that my son learns essential life skills that will help him succeed in this ever-changing and competitive world,” said Mike Keherly, Scouts on the Square founder. “All the scouting programs in the area offer these opportunities as well as promoting a non-cynical view of what a good citizen of the community, nation and world should be.”
The second annual event drew about 100 youth, in addition to parents and grandparents.
Participating Scouting units included Cub Scout Packs 92 and 93, Boy Scout Troops 190, 261, 93 and 6519, Venture Crew 459 and Girl Scouts of Northeast Ohio.
Each unit was responsible for hosting a fun activity or demonstration and building exhibits, including a teepee and campsite, to promote their programs and to entertain the youth. Upon participation in the eight stations, members earned a commemorative patch.
Activities included making their own personal first aid kits, racing rain-gutter regattas, making rope, tying knots, climbing rope bridges, eating camp-out doughnuts and making slime.
“The idea for Scouts on the Square came from a combination of the Scouts on the Circle event in Cleveland, which is hosted by the museums around Wade Oval, and the small jamborees that I recall attending as a Cub Scout in Southern California many years ago,” Keherly said. “The primary goal of Scouts on the Square was to recognize and celebrate the many great scouting opportunities in the greater Chardon area and to promote the local units in their recruitment of new Scouts.”
He added, “Recruitment is essential to the survival of the great Scouting programs in the area and remains a challenge due to competition from other activities. The secondary goal was to allow the Scouts to get to know the other Scouts in other units.”
The sweet smell of deep-frying doughnut holes filled the area as 17-year-old twins Matt and Katie Doherty shared the treats they were making with their young visitors.
Matt is a boarding student at Western Reserve Academy and has been involved with Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts since first grade.
“My father initially enrolled me in it because he was in the same program when he was my age,” Matt said. “Now this is my 12th and last year as an eligible Boy Scout before I move on and take on an adult role in my local troop.”
Matt said participation in Scouting can do no wrong.
“From teaching you what it means to be considerate of the environment, to learning and understanding the proper way to set a dinner table, it teaches you how to grow up and be courteous towards others,” Matt said.
It has given him the opportunities to go places he would have never thought to go before, from canoeing in Minnesota, to hiking at Philmont Scout Ranch in Arizona.
“The community aspect of Boy Scouts is a great way to get involved with some other like-minded individuals that also want to help their community,” Matt said.
He’s helped fellow scouts build garden beds for their local food pantries, create Putt-Putt courses for their local library and even construct buildings for local baseball fields.
They cook meals for the Cleveland Food Pantry and participate in the annual Chardon Bathtub Races at the Geauga County Maple Festival, which he said they almost won last year and the year before.
“What makes Boy Scouts a well rounded program is their availability to help their youth,” Matt said. “Some of the previously named trips are not exactly pocket change, but your troop has the opportunities to set up fundraisers to help pay for any trip the youth can think of. I know crews that have gone to Alaska and much further around the world just by fundraising.”
Katie, a student at Hathaway Brown, got involved with Scouting around the same time her brother did, but from a different perspective, as she wasn’t allowed to be a Boy Scout back then.
“I would help out and attend events and fundraisers with my brother and help out alongside of him, and I was even made an honorary ‘Boy Scout’ at a Cub Scout day camp,” Katie said. “I had some interest in joining the Girl Scouts in my area, but felt enough like I was a part of my brother’s packthat I didn’t need the official title to be a part of it. This past year, however, I joined Crew 459 and am officially a Scout, which is more exciting than I thought.”
Katie added, “Scouting is so much more than camping and learning to tie knots, it’s about engaging with your community and pushing limits. It’s a group of friends where every time you see them, you’re making change or pushing limits. Time spent scouting is time well spent, because you make an impact every time, whether it’s on the kids you’re trying to get excited about joining or the friend you’re encouraging to take that next step on a high adventure trip or towards their next advancement, you leave at the end of the day feeling good and excited about your next adventure together.”
Nearby, Scouts circled around Scoutmaster Brent Grantham, Troop 190, as he, too, shared his enthusiasm.
“Scouting is alive and well in Chardon,” Grantham said. ”The program continues to give young people the opportunity to have fun, challenge themselves, be rewarded for their achievements, gain self-confidence, all in a safe environment.”
