Haunted Forest 2011

What do you get when you combine bone-chilling thrills with cheerful service? O-Shot-CawΓÇÖs
annual Haunted Forest, of course! All proceeds from this event go to the Joseph Aaron Abbott Campership Fund ΓÇô a charitable program that gives camping scholarships to Boy Scouts who canΓÇÖt afford the cost of attending summer camp. In 2010, the Haunted Forest raised about $20,000 in support of Scout camping.

This year, the lodge spiced up the event by adding a pumpkin patch and a costume contest to the traditionally provided ΓÇ£hauntedΓÇ¥ trail and carnival style midway games. The new pumpkin patch sold over 50 pumpkins that night! Participants also had the opportunity to guess the weight of a giant pumpkin, conveniently weighing in at 305 pounds. There
were also many unique themes on the trail that O-Shot-CawΓÇÖs chapters created, ranging from zombies to Edgar Allen Poe to Fairy Tales Gone Wrong and even Tron! There are also midway games that chapters create and staff to provide amusement for Haunted Forest guests prior
to and following their journey down the trail. Some of the games were as simple as the classic ΓÇ£Guess whatΓÇÖs insideΓÇ¥ to trying to make a goal with a hockey stick. In other words, our chapters created and executed an outstanding array of highly creative ideas this year, and all of our work certainly paid off; our lodge was able to donate the sum of $21,000 to the JAACF fol-lowing this yearΓÇÖs Haunted Forest. This year the Elgixin Chapter did a great job cooking for all the volunteers. Elgixin also manned the Heron Grill on Saturday night, providing ham-burgers, hot dogs, chips and more to guests and Ar-rowmen alike. Paldani Chapter also did an amazing job assisting with registration and attending to the ΓÇ£customer serviceΓÇ¥ needs of the attendees. On Saturday night at 7 p.m. the trail opened to visitors and saw a continuous flow of foot traffic all the way until close at 10 p.m. In that 3 hour time span, hundreds of people – Cub, Boy, and Girl Scouts, community leaders and families – all walked the trail and had an absolute blast. After the trail closed the chapters began tearing down their individ-ual section twice as fast as they went up; by noon the next day, no one could tell that such a huge event had taken place over the past 48 hours, as our Arrowmen are true pacesetters in cleanliness and out-door stewardship. A big thank you to R.J. Hickman, the 2011 Haunted Forest Chairman, and his Adviser Matt Kinsey, for leading our lodge to the best Haunted Forest in recent history! Now, the question on everyoneΓÇÖs mind has to be: ΓÇ£Who will win the Golden Pumpkin?ΓÇ¥ Find out in March at our annual Lodge Banquet!