FORT AP HILL, Va. — For 20 minutes, Aaron August was a star on the stage.
Not that you would have recognized the 17-year-old Northumberland resident.
Dressed as if he were at Carnival, August wore a beaded belt, beaded shin flaps, wooden rings around his arms and fringed pants. He was shaking pompoms, and his fake dreadlocks.
Welcome to Saturday night's preshow for the National Boy Scout Jamboree.
August learned earlier in the day that he would perform with the 15 Boy Scouts from Trinidad and Tobago before a crowd of 70,000 — including 100 from the Valley — at the quadrennial event, held at a military installation.
While the international students beat on steel drums, August, a member of Troop 423, Northumberland, danced away.
"It," he said, "was pretty awesome. The number of people there, the energy off the crowd ..."
Early nerves subsided, he said.
"After that, I just danced along to the music," he said.
Said Dr. Doug Spotts, scoutmaster of Troop 419 based in Mifflinburg: "It was really fantastic. We camp next to them (Troop 423), and we got to know some of those kids pretty well."
Eight Scouts from Trinidad and Tobago are camping with Troop 423 at the Jamboree, and seven are camping with a Philadelphia area troop, said Ted August, scoutmaster of Troop 423.
The mass of humanity is impressive, Ted August said.
"It's phenomenal," he said. "There are 70,000 here (in the outdoor arena). The facility is just huge, from one end to the other. It's a big circle, probably three or four miles in diameter. So it's about eight or nine miles all the way around. It's a lot of walking, a lot of getting on the bus to go everywhere. It's amazing, the number of people. And everyone gets along."
Spotts agreed.
"I think it is a remarkable spirit of cooperation from all these people who turned this into a huge festival of 44,000 Scouts," he said, lauding the armed forces, the National Boy Scouts of America organization and "the Scouts themselves. People are commenting all over how polite they are."
That President Obama failed to address the Scouts as was initially planned was disappointing, Ted August said.
"He was supposed to have spoken on Wednesday," Ted August said. "He is the first president in a long time that has not attended the Boy Scout Jamboree. Everyone here was disappointed. It's too bad the leader of the United States government could not take the time, but he could show up for a talk show on TV."
The experience has been great for Valley Scouts, Ted August said.
"There are a lot of activities here, science, nature, conservation," he said. "A few boys earned merit badges in engineering, Indian lore and forestry. They're doing a lot of patch trading with other boys from other troops from all over the country, learning that this is a fair trade and learning how to deal with those things."
The program area closes at 5 p.m. Scouts are back in camp by 6 p.m. They make dinner, shower, then may go to a stage show, Ted August said. A bed check is conducted at 10 p.m. to make sure all Scouts are back in camp, and "typically, by 11, everyone is out."
The two Valley troops return to Selinsgrove at 8 Wednesday night.
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Valley Scout dances before 70,000
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