Scouts celebrate 100 years

Bigfork's Troop 1923 took part in a special two-for-one celebration in June as they commemorated the 100th anniversary of the Boy Scouts and Glacier National Park with three days of volunteering.

"It's part of the Boy Scout tradition," said Dan Paine, committee chairman for Troop 1923. "Community service is what the Boy Scouts is all about."

During their time in the Park, the boys built, painted and installed seven picnic tables for the campground in Apgar. They also hauled gravel for the campsite and worked in the native plant nursery.

"I think they really enjoyed the experience and they did a good job with all of it," said Rodney Driver, who is the boys' troop master. "I think they'll more fully understand that this was a once-in-a-lifetime experience later down the road."

Although the boys likely won't forget the days they spent volunteering in the Park, they have a few concrete reminders to ensure that is the case.

They wrote all of their names on the bottoms of the picnic tables that they built so they could identify them years from now. Also, they were each given a commemorative medallion.

The Park has its own record of their time there as well. Photos of the 400 Boy Scouts from across Montana who volunteered at the Park over the past month are being stored in their archives.

"The boys all talked about what a special and unique thing it was to be a part of," Paine said.

It wasn't all work for Troop 1923, though. They also spent time fishing, hiking and rafting.

While they were camping out at the Park, the boys were responsible for making all of their own meals and taking care of everything around their campsite, as is the case whenever they are on trips.

"It's fun watching these boys," Paine said. "We started them out a couple years ago and now they're running their own troop pretty much. They plan their own meals, cook for themselves and budget out their food. It's a big part of the leadership side and it's really fun to watch."

The Glacier trip was the first of many activities that Troop 1923 is going to take part in this summer.

In July they will be going to Melita Island for a week-long campout, they will do cleanup work after Bigfork's Festival of the Arts and they will also work the Mason's food stand at the Northwest Montana Fair in Kalispell.

"We do a lot of community service projects and they really enjoy doing it," Driver said. "As they get older, they are learning how important these types of projects are and how they can really affect the world around them. Each time we go do events like this, it creates a real air of teamwork and they improve on the way they work together. They work very hard to make everything come together."

Editor's note: Bigfork is home to two Boy Scout troops. Read about Troop 1943 in an upcoming issue.