Emergency Expo

Location:	Utica College (!)
Dates:	April 30 - May 2, 2004
Who:	Matt I., and Brian F. led a well formed team of scouts, consisting of Brian F., Chris D., Dustin T., Phil F., Jeremy R., Arjun A., and Patrick D.. We were also joined by Ben D. for Saturday night as a guest of the troop. As adults, we had the standard mix of John Ivory, Cliff Rose, and Mike Fitzsimmons, with assorted others dropping in.
Notes:	This was one of the largest expositions of its kind, and certainly the biggest scout event in local history.

Something on the order of 800-900 scouts attended from across the state for this event. It took months of planning and coordination to get all the activities lined up.

As with anything of this sort, there were a few small scheduling issues and unforeseen events, but even so, it all came off without a hitch. Congressman Boehlert was in attendance, as well as other assorted VIPs from the region.

Phil was the 'victim' representing our troop for the mock disaster drill, wherein he was doused with water and decontaminated.

Throughout the days, the scouts had all sorts of opportunities to learn about the Red Cross and other special services, as well as better understand the scope of scouting in our area.

In addition to the learning aspects, there was also ample opportunity to come up with our own diversions. This seemed primarily to settle out to ...

- Hot Hands
- Rock, Paper, Scissors
- Team pushups
- Ultimate Frisbee
- and card games (Drug Dealer)

Along the way, we managed to sneak a hike over to Friendly's Ice Cream, and Patrick D. made big progress on his religious emblem.

The band and video presentation on Saturday evening provided a nice change of pace of how to finish off an evening at 'camp'.

This was certainly a worthwhile event, and provided a nice contrast to the more solitary type of trips and outings we generally do; it gives the scouts (and adults) something to compare other events against.