Several thousand Iowa Boy Scouts will be heading west this weekend to take part in a massive rally in eastern Nebraska. ScoutQuest, the largest scouting event in the Mid-America Council, is only held once every four years. Council spokeswoman Katie Kassebaum says the event at Mahoney State Park will feature all sorts of unusual games, sports and edu-tainment.
“Some of the kids are looking for human bowling,” Kassebaum says. “There’ll be bow and arrows. You can do sumo wrestling. There will be bounce houses for the kids. Older kids can look forward to some career exploring opportunities.” As many as seven-thousand scouts are expected from across Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas, South Dakota and Missouri.
Activities will include: rock climbing, dodgeball, obstacle courses, martial arts and dive teams. An area called FrontierLand is based on the Old West with tomahawk throws, an Indian village and pottery demonstrations. Kassebaum says you don’t have to be a member of the Boy Scouts to attend as this event is open to the public.
“It’ll be a scout amusement park but you don’t have to be a scout to go,” she says. “You can be just a family who wants to get out and do fun activities. Human gyroscope, mountain boarding, geo-cashing. Fun stuff for kids of all ages.” As part of the weekend’s entertainment, Kassebaum says a nationally-known Boy Scout-slash-comedian is bringing his famous Sledge-o-matic to the park.
“Gallagher is coming and we’re excited,” she says. “He is going to be splattering people with fruit and telling jokes. Actually, he’s an Eagle Scout so we are proud to have him come.” The park is located just off Interstate 80 between Omaha and Lincoln. ScoutQuest runs Friday through Sunday.
Learn more at: www.mac-bsa.org/scoutquest