Plan, plan, plan and you cannot be prepared for everything, especially what Mother Nature can dish out. Well, the Boy Scout’s 2011 Cypress Chauve District Spring Camporee was scheduled to take place at the Lamar Dixon Expo Center in Gonzales. But the weather rolled in with some severe weather warnings, including tornado warnings for the entire southeastern area of the state. As the weather warnings were broadcast, the phones began to ring from the different Boy Scout Troop parents, concerned about the weather and the evening arrival for the Boy Scout Spring Camporee. With safety in mind, the evening arrival was canceled, requiring everyone to arrive early in the morning. So, the troops began arriving before dawn, to get the jump on the schedule that was planned, which was later adjusted to accommodate the loss of the evening arrival.

The first event of the camporee was the judged meal, which happened to be breakfast. Scouts were hurrying to get fires going to begin their cooking and baking. Gramercy Boy Scouts Troop 59 Wolf Patrol, which was accompanied by some of the Paulina Cub Scouts Pack 59 Webelo Scouts, arrived and immediately started to set up the propane stoves and fired up the charcoal for the cardboard box oven. Soon the judge arrived at the campsite to judge the preparation, cooking abilities, cleanliness and the promptness of the patrol members. Bonus points were also available for keeping the judge’s cup full with fresh hot coffee. After the hardy breakfast of scrambled eggs with sausage and seasoning, hash browns, fruit wedges, lilly white biscuits made from scratch and baked in a box, which was enjoyed by the judge, the scouts began setting up the campsite and preparing for the rest of the day.

Other events of the day that the scouts participated in were uniform inspection, patrol flags, campsite gateways, fire building, campsite inspection, careless campsite, first aid, knot tying, orienteering and campfire skit. All these events were to be performed within a certain amount of time, scoring points for accuracy, following the event plan and to be performed by a Troop Patrol of five to nine scouts. Troop 59 Wolf Patrol only had three scouts there to compete in the events that day but did their best.

After the events ended, evening started with a chicken sauce piquant dinner. A cobbler contest was also held, with the winner getting a gallon of Blue Bell Ice Cream to accompany the winning cobbler. After the flag lowering, a campfire was held. At the campfire, an Order of the Arrow Call Out was held, with Zacharry Mistretta and Dale Marks being called out. Afterward, the awards were given out to the winners of the events. Between the announcements of the event winners, different scout troops performed their skits. Some of the awards earned by Troop 59 Wolf Patrol were: second place – uniform inspection, second place ¬– patrol flag, second place – fire building, second place – knot tying, first place – gateway, first place – judged meal and first place – campsite inspection. Each participating Patrol of the camporee also received a participation ribbon. After presentation of all the event awards, the attention was drawn to the final award, the Presidential Award, which is given to the patrol with the most points achieved. The recipient of the 2011 Presidential Award was won by the three boy scouts of the Gramercy Boy Scouts Troop 59 Wolf Patrol.

Attending the camporee were Boy Scouts Dale Marks, Zacharry Mistretta and E.J. Sieber; Adult Troop Leaders Craig Calcagno, Thomas Mistretta and Ernie Sieber. Webelos were Benjamin Poche, Drake Boudwin, Josh Taylor, and Jeremiah Baloney; and Adult Pack Leaders Ricky Boudwin and Keith Poche.