Took me a week to write this, but wow, what a way to celebrate 50 years! We had a huge turnout from both our current Scouting families and our past members, and the place was packed. The Scouts did a great job with running the ceremony, the slide show was as good as ever, and the 50 years of Troop 48 video came out far better than we had hoped (Note: Should soon be available for streaming on the website). Thank you to everyone who worked so hard to pull this thing together, whether it was picking up the PA system at my house, getting the advancements squared away, coordinating the food and pollyanna, or sewing badges on shirts. An especially big thanks to Dan Smith for putting 30 hours into creating the video in only about a week and half’s time span, and then missing the big night because of a group presentation for his college class (No word on the grade yet, but we suspect it was an A.)
We also need to stop and thank everyone who helped make the last 50 years possible, from the late Joe Derr and Joe Schaffer who founded Troop 48, to Gary Lake and his loyal band of adults who kept things going from the 80s through the turn of the century, to Chris Farrell for bridging the gap and pushing Troop 48’s adventure possibilities further than ever, to all of the alumni, parents, and leaders who got this thing back on track half a dozen years ago. Watch the video when it goes up, it pretty much says it all.
The biggest thank you goes to the last 50 years of Scouts who’ve called Troop 48 home. Without the Scouts, there would have been no adventures to go on and no stories to tell.
As Mr. Madden said at the close of the movie, “There have been a lot of great memories over the last fifty years. Tonight, we start making memories for the next fifty.”
