WINDSOR – Kyle Gagnon shot dog-food pellets from a sling, learned about fire safety and glided down a giant tiger-shaped slide Saturday while spending time with his dad at ScoutFest.

Gagnon, 7, of Topsham wore his Wolf Scout cap to the Windsor Fairgrounds, the site of a giant tent city and a large number of events for boys from across central and southern Maine.

“We went down the big super slide thing,” he said. “I learned about safety. What’s safe and what’s not.”

Gagnon was one of many younger boys who came for the day’s activities organized by the Pine Tree Council. More than 1,000 Scouts spent the night, along with more than 600 adults.

For more than a year, Scout leaders have been planning for the event to mark the 100th anniversary of Scouting in America. Gov. John Baldacci issued a proclamation declaring Saturday “Scouting Centennial Day.”

The proclamation gives a brief history of how Scouting came to the United States.

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“The Boy Scouts of America was founded in 1910 after William Boyce, a Chicago publisher, was guided through the London fog by a young boy who refused payment for his help, saying that a Scout does not take payment for ‘doing a good turn.”‘

All four members of Maine’s congressional delegation sent letters of congratulations as well.

Brad Seitz of Falmouth, chairman of ScoutFest, said the 40-degree overnight temperatures meant the Scouts — and the adults — had to remember the group’s motto: Be prepared.

“Hopefully, they all had sleeping bags,” he said. “Get in a warm sleeping bag and put on a knit hat and you’ll be fine.”

The Scouts put the Windsor Fairgrounds to good use, with exhibits and activities inside buildings and barns and a large field of tents out back. There were things you’d expect at a Scouting event: ham radio lessons, the pinewood derby, and chess boards set up on tables. But there was also a technology center, a nod to the modern age of Scouting.

Parents and their children stood in line to get into the planetarium display, and smoke billowed from a trailer that served as a demonstration site for fire safety.

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“Hopefully, they are having fun,” Seitz said. “Maybe along the way they are learning some stuff.”

Jon Williams, 10, of Raymond said “the big tiger slide” was his favorite part of the day. Like many of the younger Scouts, he didn’t camp.

“It was way too cold,” he said.

Older Scouts at the fairgrounds said they would encourage the younger boys to work their way up through the ranks.

“You learn a lot about leadership,” said David Cosgrove, 15, of Casco.

A laser light show was planned for Saturday night, and religious services are scheduled to be offered this morning. Today’s schedule calls for campsite breakdowns and a service project.For more than a year, Scout leaders have been planning for the event to mark the 100th anniversary of Scouting in America.

 


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