Chris Lowrey
FORT COULONGE August 6, 2017
After a week of fun, games and learning about the outdoors, the Scouts annual Jamboree that took place at the Patro in Fort Coulonge wrapped up on Sunday.
Before the campers packed up their tents and headed home, there was a closing ceremony held on Saturday night for those in attendance. During the festivities, campers were treated to a corn roast dinner, music and photos.

Around 250 Scouts from all across the province descended on Fort Coulonge for the weeklong event.
This was an especially significant Jamboree for one Scout troop: the new 148th Pontiac troop which was started in the last year to give youngsters from the region an opportunity to experience the Scouts. The troop was started by Suzanne Vallières-Mollet who came to the Pontiac from Montreal in 2015.
At the time, Vallières-Mollet said the troop would give youngsters from the area a range of experiences to draw on, especially in a rural location like the Pontiac.
“We camp the old-fashioned way,” Vallières-Mollet said in October of 2016. “There won’t be any pop-up tents.”
This week’s Jamboree was a testament to that “old-fashioned” camping as scouts had to make their tents and bunk beds out of rope and wood.
In fact, Jamboree organizer Michel-André Vallières was still at the camp on Monday helping to take down what was left of the wooden structures the campers had erected.
Throughout the week, Fort Coulonge was buzzing with Scouts. One of the troop’s stops was the Chutes Coulonge to take in the sights.
The Patro also got glowing reviews from the other Scouts.
“They really liked the site at the Patro because it’s very vast, we have a lot of space, access to the river, water games,” Vallières said. “It was really popular.”
During the closing ceremonies, the Scouts were given awards based on several criteria.
One category was for inspections, Scouts were awarded points based on the cleanliness of their campsite and the inside of their tent.
They were also given an award based on the sturdiness of their tent’s construction.
An environmental category awarded points based on how many vegetarian meals a patrol made, how much garbage they had, how much rope was used during construction and whether they planted trees to offset the carbon footprint of the event.
The Scout troops who won the most games throughout the week also won an award.
Finally, team awards were given out based on which troop had the best costumes and campsite decorations.
Several teams could win the gold as the awards were doled out based on a points system. If several teams reached a specific threshold of points, they qualified for an award.
During the week, troops participated in several types of games and competitions. Vallières said many of them liked the night games that featured sound effects and glow-in-the-dark paint.
“They really, really enjoyed the event,” Vallières said.
The unpredictable weather, which would usually be a drag for most campers, gave the Scouts a range of experiences throughout the week.
“We started with heat stroke and we finished with almost hypothermia,” Vallières said.
But despite the changing weather patterns, Vallières said he was happy with the lack of rain.
“Usually, at a Jamboree, it’s a tradition that you get some rain and you get some mud,” he said. “But it was dry all week.”
Not only did the Scouts enjoy their time in Fort Coulonge, but Vallières said he thinks the town enjoyed it too.
“The grocery store was happy,” he said.