Camp Wilson feeds hundreds

The 61st annual Camp Wilson Boy Scout rendezvous and barbecue enjoyed great weather as hundreds of scouts and members of the public turned out for the three days of events in the mountains between Pine and Featherville.

"It was shirtsleeve weather," with no wind or snow on the ground said Joni Vann, one of the barbecue volunteers.

Approximately 150 scouts and their leaders showed up Friday evening to begin the three-day event, in which various troops and individuals competed in a variety of scout skill contests.

But for the general public, the big event was on Sunday, where volunteers put together a huge barbecue to honor the scouts.

Volunteers had cleaned up the campsite the weekend before, and then Saturday arrived to begin putting together the barbecue.

At 4 a.m. Sunday morning 950 lbs. of top round roast went into the ground to be slow cooked for nearly eight hours.

The scouts were treated to a free barbecue, and then nearly 500 members of the general public sat down to pay for their meals, which included a baked potato and beans (more than 100 gallons of beans were served that day).

Among those attending the barbecue was Lucille Wilson, 90, was in attendance. Wilbur Wilson, her husband, had created the scouting event on their property 61 years ago.

Vann noted that the barbecue committee had "an excellent crew this year. We had more young people than we've ever had," some of them second and third-generation helpers, both at clean-up week before and on Camp Wilson weekend.

The scouting competition was won by Troop 323 from Emmett. A troop from Boise won second place and a troop from Pocatello took third.