As winter holds off spring’s procession, and stores decorate everything red for Valentines Day, Cub Scout Packs all around the country are planning their Blue and Gold Banquets. There are balloons, cakes, family and friends. There are songs, skits, speeches and ceremonies. Yes, the color of February should be Blue and Gold.

One of the things that I remember most from my Cub Scout days is the Blue and Gold banquet (2nd of course to the Pinewood Derby). My elementary school gym was all decorated (in Blue and Gold of course), I was all dressed up in my uniform and my whole family was there to see me get my awards. At the time I did not fully understand the significance of the Blue and Gold banquet. I hope that our first Pack 567 Blue and Gold Banquet is one that everyone will remember for years to come.

The Blue and Gold Banquet started out as Parent/Cub “pot-luck” dinner put on by Pack 1 of Michigan City. Dads were to bring utensils made of wood; whittled by the Cub and his Dad. In the 1930s, father/son “Bean dinners” and “Cub family dinners” began to become common place. Then in 1943 the BSA formally started calling these events “Blue and Gold Banquets” and they became synonymous with “celebrating the birthday of Cub Scouting.”

The Blue and Gold Banquet also signifies some happy, but yet sad, news for our Pack. Our 2nd year Webelos, that have been working so hard following the Cub Scout Trail, will now complete the trail and move on to become Boy Scouts. Although we will miss them, we are very proud of everything they have accomplished in Cub Scouts and everything that they will accomplish in Boy Scouts. I know they will all make fine Boy Scouts and hope that they remember the time they have spent in Pack 567.

So get your party hats ready, and be glad we don’t make you carve your own utensils.

Yours in Scouting,

JK

The holidays have past and I hope everyone is ready for the New Year. We have many exciting events coming up like the Blue and Gold banquet and of course the Pinewood derby. As a tribute to this month’s theme, “Cub Scout Car Show” I’ll share a few real bizarre driving laws:

• In Alabama: It is illegal for a driver to be blindfolded while operating a vehicle.
• In Florida: If an elephant is tied to a parking meter, the owner or attendant must deposit money in the meter.
• In Nevada: It is illegal to drive a camel on the highway.
• In Tennessee: It is illegal to fire a gun at any wild game other than whales from a moving car.

Yours in Scouting,

JK

Greetings Pack!

December is here once again. We have our first snowfall already and the cold seems to want to stay. Looking at the calendar it’s hard to believe we have these last days of 2007 and need to prepare for 2008 already.

Thank you to everyone that helped out at our Popcorn sale at Lowe's. Everyone had fun and did a great job helping out. I did take a few pictures, enjoy.

We will be having our Pack meeting at Bristol Woods Park. Petrifying Springs is closed due to all the flooding problems. For information see the Pack Meeting Event.

Thanks to everyone who came out and helped with the Nash festival. It was our first real official Pack 567 event. I hope all the kids had fun with the water bottle rockets. Big thanks to Diann, Rich, Dale, Jen, and Scott.

And thank you to all the Scouts that helped out in the flag ceremony, Spencer, Blake, Zac, Max, Kyle, and Robert.

Scouts interested in participating in the Kenosha Independence Day Parade,
meet at Jockey International Park at 1:00pm on Sunday, July 1st.
The Parade starts at 2:00pm

The Maroon Pack t-shirt is our "Class B" attire that can be worn when camping or at other special events when we don't want the kids to wreck their official uniform. The official Cub Scout uniform is considered "Class A" attire and should be worn to weekly meetings and any time a group of Scouts is appearing together in public (such as a den field trip).

The T-Shirts are $9.00 and can be ordered from the Pack.