Scouting, Volume 78, Number 4, September 1990 Page: 81
98, E1-E12, [8] p. : ill. (some col.) ; 28 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Scoutorama (from page 50)
thralling spectacles. Each booth, what-
ever its nature, will just keep functioning
repetitively hour after hour. No booth is
likely to astound the multitudes. After all,
these displays and activities must fit Scout
interests—and how often does anything
brand-new burst into Scouting's purview?
There are 195 possible topics for
booths suggested in the council's Scouto-
rama brochure, and a few dozen others
might be gleaned from the 130-odd merit
badges listed in the Boy Scout Handbook
—but they've probably all been tried in
various ways at previous Scoutoramas and
merit badge midways and show-and-do
affairs.
So what? No problem. Flamboyant
novelties aren't urgently needed. The
crowd knows from past years' hearsay
that familiar stuff can be fun enough.
Except among benign oldsters who are
content to watch and listen, the main rea-
son for coming is to try a bunch of stunts
and pastimes and skills, whether new or
old. This is in tune with Scouting's under-
lying philosophy. The thrust of its pro-
gram is to offer boys a wide smorgasbord
of worthwhile fun with a minimum of
sit-down contemplation. So this festivity
is sure to be mostly hands-on, as they say,
rather than look-see.
We enter the Palace through a vast
open lobby, on an upper level, where an
opening ceremony is scheduled to begin
soon. We're led into a room for special
guests, a glassed observation booth where
we can gaze down on the main floor. That
panorama suggests a cross-section of a
giant honeycomb: a grid of hundreds of
booths, all 10 feet square, partitioned by
drapes on aluminum tubing. These facili-
ties (set up by Scout volunteers) are part
of the Salt Palace's stock in trade, offered
to all its industrial expositions.
A visitor murmurs, "Renting these fa-
cilities must cost a pretty penny."
"I think we pay about $13,000 plus
any extras the management decides to
bill, like breakage and cleaning," one of
the local Scouters says. "But our volun-
teer committees get bigger and smarter
every year. They make sure this place is
immaculate within three hours after
close-down. That takes a heap more
brooms and about 40 more trash cans
than the regular maintenance crews use,
but we get 'em.
"A few years back, the Salt Palace
found it couldn't lay many surcharges on
us, so it said it would boost the basic bill.
We said, 'Let us do a little extra for you
instead. Let our Scouts come here for a
Spring Cleaning Day every year. They'll
rake and mow the lawns, trim shrubbery,
pick up all around.' Everybody went for
that, and our bill has stayed low."
The honeycomb is already astir with
human beings, although booths won't be
open to visitors for an hour yet. Teams of
uniformed boys and adults who'll staff the
booths are mostly in place, adjusting sup-
plies, practicing routines, or fidgeting.
The myriad tasks of stocking the
"No, you cannot keep him in the house. "
booths were done Friday, when Scouters
who could take time off from work de-
ployed through the maze of bare cubicles,
finding their assigned locations and
working through the evening if neces-
sary. Many units brought loads of equip-
ment in borrowed trucks, rolling through
the arena on a tight schedule.
Drivers were handed cardboard passes
as they entered. Passes showed a booth
number and a precise time (just 20 min-
utes after entry) when they must depart.
"Do not let your vehicle's motor run while
unloading," said a warning in big print
on the pass.
Safety experts from the Red Cross and
the local hospital roamed the floor, as
they would throughout the weekend.
There have been no serious accidents, de-
spite the crowds, in the eight-year history
of the show.
Now at 9:15 a.m. as we scan the acres
of floor below us, we notice many early
sightseers in the open aisles between
rows of booths. There's nothing for them
to do yet except stroll and look. The
booths are in a state of suspended anima-
tion, more or less, but waiting lines (of
eager Cub Scouts, mostly) are forming at
the barriers of certain booths that look
especially enticing. The longest queues
are at a few far corners and along outer
edges of the honeycomb, where larger
spaces are allotted to a few troops and
posts that seem to be preparing extra-
challenging activities.
At the appointed time a bagpipe band
struck up. A parade of Scout-borne flags,
already massed at the lower level, wended
its way through the labyrinth of booths.
"We needed something to make clear that
the show was starting," a Scouter ex-
plained. "Public-address speakers can't
be heard down here through all the hub-
bub."
The parade swept into the big outer
lobby, where a few dozen invited dignitar-
ies sat on a raised platform. Around them
a sizable crowd of spectators clustered.
The top planners and factotums showed
no sign of last-minute tension. Their
plans must be going smoothly, we sensed.
And indeed the whole day did move
along with hardly a hitch. Shortly after
9:30 someone stepped to a lectern thus
apparently giving a signal for the crowd
to pay attention. The "opening" went
smoothly but speedily. No extended mon-
ologues were forthcoming. Dignitaries
arose and waved and sat down again (by
advance agreement). Most of them would
stay available during the day to chat and
sign autographs. They would be stationed
beneath huge posters displaying their
names.
After an opening prayer, the show was
Scouting September 1990
81
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Boy Scouts of America. Scouting, Volume 78, Number 4, September 1990, periodical, September 1990; Irving, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth353668/m1/93/: accessed May 1, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Boy Scouts of America National Scouting Museum.