I was able to make it up to MacDonald and Murray sub-camps this morning to see how inspections went. In MacDonald we have two patrols. One of them did rather poorly this morning because they weren't finished cleaning up breakfast early enough as they were the first patrol called on for inspection.
The other patrol did quite well, as they were quite far down the list and had more time. I'm not quite sure what the result of the inspections is all about, but I do know they get points for good and deducted points for bad. These points are going to amount to something in the end. Perhaps awards or recognition of some kind.
Today was Country Fair day at camp. So the Scouts had no activities other than to prepare for and participate in the Fair. For all of our contingent we got together to make pancakes and maple syrup. This didn't really require much preparation so the Scouts had quite a bit of free time today until about 1:30. By 2 pm we were still scrambling to get a proper portable propane stove working to get the pancakes under way, but the line ups had already started.
Once we got the two pans going with the pancakes we had a steady queue of people solid for over 2 hours, when we ran out of pancakes. Other than our table I think the deep fried Mars bars was the only table to have a bigger queue.
The Country Fair used currency which were printed up for the occasion called “Atholls”. Each Scout received from 2 to 10 Atholls, depending on if they were Scottish, International, or made some kind of bribe to a leader. Visitors were also welcome and each received 10 Atholls to spend. All the Atholls made at the tables was to be used by the tables themselves to spend at other tables.
At our table the Atholls were coming in way faster than we could spend them, so it didn't really even matter how many our Scouts were issued at the start as ½ hour into the Fair we had so many Atholls we were requesting they go spend them. We had enough Scouts to provide shifts, so when one shift was cooking pancakes the other shift was out spending the Atholls.
I should mention that we also had a table for souvenirs. Stickers, pencils, tattoos, pins, and a variety of Canadian items which were also very desirable and making a lot of Atholls for us. A lot of little kids coming in to visit really liked the Maple Leaf tattoos for their faces. The older kids wanted badges which we only had a very limited supply. By the end of the fair the Atholls were being spent as fast as possible. Nobody wanted to have any left as they were essentially worthless after the fair is over, except for as souvenirs themselves.
We were expecting a crowd of maybe 3000 total today and it looks to me like we very well may have reached that number. It was very crowded in a very large area. I have pictures of the crowd but it really doesn't do it justice as you can't see how big the grounds were because of the hill and layout around the Kastle Marquee (tent). Many of the guests were parents of Scottish Scouts and Leaders who come by to see what the Scouts are up to. We had many comments from visitors that they were expecting pancakes and maple syrup again this camp as it has been done for the last several camps by Ray and Shelley for our Canadian contingent.
I should also mention that there are other Canadian contingents there, from Victoria, Gibsons, Kelowna, Edmonton, Calgary, and somewhere in Quebec. The Kelowna group was selling Sunripe dried fruit. The Victoria group was doing beaver tails, which were also very popular.
The Fair was so big I didn't get a chance to see it all, so I can't tell you what all the Canadian contingents did. Of course the theme was international, so there were many interesting foods and games and souvenirs at the fair. So hopefully the Scouts all managed to pick up some international souvenirs, even if they didn't have much for trading at camp in the first place.
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