This year is the Centennial celebration of the Boy Scouts of America. Wow, the Boy Scouts organization is one hundred years old. The official start of the Boy Scouts of America was in 1910 by W.D. Boyce, a Chicago publisher, who visited London and learned about the Scouting movement started by Robert Baden-Powell in 1907 in England. Baden-Powell had been inspired by Ernest Thompson Seton in 1902 who called his group of boys the Woodcraft Indians. Several small local Scouting programs for boys started independently around the U. S. at that time but all these programs merged together with the Boy Scouts of America officially starting on February 8, 1910 and the Scouting experience began to grow.

This great organization started as a combined effort of good men wanting to help young boys learn skills they can use as adults and teach lasting values so all those a part of the boy scouts will learn the importance of being trustworthy, kind, friendly and courteous.

Having all five of my sons become boy scouts, I know what it takes to work through the program towards being an eagle scout, the highest award earned by a boy scout. Two weekends ago, there was a special Centennial Jubilee celebration that part of our troop attended at the Alabama Battleship Park along the Causeway. It was a great experience and the Boy Scouts of America from the Mobile Council put on quite a show.

There were hot air balloon rides, rock wall climbing, special cooks demonstrating smoked turkeys and pork roasts and Dutch oven cooking, visits to the Alabama Battleship, volunteers to teach merit badges in carpentry, animal tracking, signaling, photography, astronomy, fingerprinting and motor boating. Even the younger boys in cub scouts had many activities planned for them to earn belt loops and other badges.

Of course camping overnight in a tent is always enjoyable and cooking food on a camp stove tastes great! The evening show was inspiring and entertaining. There was a big screen set up for showing the history of scouting and several speakers talked about the importance of scouting. One of our own from Baldwin County was the keynote speaker for the Friday night entertainment and that was Mr. Hoss Mack of the Baldwin County Sheriff’s department. I had no idea that Mr. Mack was a cub scout and had been involved with scouting ever since. He talked of the importance of scouting in a boy’s life and how even boys from broken homes can learn to be helpful, kind and brave participating as a part of a troop in boy scouts.

Saturday evening ended with a big bang as there was a large fireworks display with patriotic music playing. It was a great way to end a great weekend retreat with the Boy Scouts. My hat goes off to the Mobile Area Council for all the work put into this great weekend for over 2,000 scouts and scouting leaders who showed up for a great time.

Loxley resident Valerie J. Steimle is now the author of four books. Her latest, "Dogs, Blogs and Hobbits: Writings from a Widow's Perspective" is available on Amazon.com. Contact her at valeriesteimle@yahoo.com or visit her website at www.stregthenyourhome.com.