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While we got many kudos for our penny press but no one said it was great. We did hear “awesome” a lot. From the older users we often heard “cool.” But, the new term of exclamation is “sweet” or even better yet “tight” which we heard a lot. Who knew that such a simple machine, read not computerized, could be so “rad” according to the younger generations.
We took a portable penny press so Scouts could make their own Jamboree pennies. Folks lined up multi-people deep to use the machine. It was a smash hit (pun intended). I was surprised by how many folks collect these. There were several other penny machines including ones at NESA and Boys’ Life but we were the only one that could smash nickles and quarters. We even smashed some Susan B. Anthony dollars and Estonian coins.
Although the papers reported that 300 people were treated Wednesday, the actual number was closer to 1,000. The base hospital filled up and then the sub-camp facilities as well as the stations along the road. Although there were problems throughout the day, it really kicked in with the afternoon march to the planned arena show. The kids ran out of water half way and the water buffaloes, portable military water carriers, ran out before all kids could get refills. The arena itself had no shade or sun protection and lead to a parade of stretchers up through the aisles.
After five days of trading, I’m figuring we’ve only seen half of the issues. The neckercheifs we saw in DC have disappeared with the heat.
As a related observation, due to technology there are more troop logoed items than ever before. Sure there are shirts and hats but now there are back packs, water camels, belts and more. If it can be logoed, it is.
Again there seem to be severe staff shortages. I’ve been told that they’re 170 staff short in security. Roughly half of these were due to no shows. Also the median staff age is higher than I can recall. Half of the staff could be over 65. There are a lot of retired Scout Execs. working the Jamboree. My guess is that they work it with pay.
We’ll there’s a new patch first here. Grand Teton Council and their OA lodge have issued scratch and sniff patches. They put essence oils on the FDL of each patch. When you rub it, the patch has a smell. A problem though is that heat also brings out the smells. That may not be a problem if you’ve only got one patch but if you have a bunch it can be pretty rank. I’ve been told that the found this out when they opened up the duffle bag carrying them when they got here and were almost bowled over with the stench. I don’t think they’re going to catch on.
We stopped by the trading post after setting up our staff area. Now $36 lighter after getting only a basic set of pocket patch, back patch, leather patch & N/C. Ouch! Others in our group felt the same way after getting just few little souvenirs. Prices are overly high by a factor of two. Also there are more superfluous items than ever before. What’s going on with supply division? I’d like to know what their profitb expectations are for the TP.
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