By Sandy Edie

The 36th   annual International Scout Rally (ISR) returned to the Chippewa County Fairgrounds the weekend of September 16-18.

Even though the event has not yet returned to the attendance levels of a few years ago, more than 280 scouts were on the grounds for the weekend’s events.

Boy Scouts, Venture Scouts, and Girl Scouts from across the UP, Wisconsin, Lower Michigan, and even one from Finland made the trek to participate. Normally, Canada would have a presence also but only a few staff were able to make the trip and hope to be able to bring their troops next year.

Newberry Scouts had a large presence this year and were recognized as having the most in attendance with 16 people from the troop, 9 cub scouts, and one girl scout.

The predicted poor weather held off and we enjoyed a beautiful sunny day. Our scouts split into three groups to participate in the activities, which included multiple games and skills stations.  Teams were awarded points based on their teamwork, scout spirit, skills, and knowledge. Nearly 30 teams competed, and all our teams did well.

The Yooper Trooper patrol, consisting of Mark McTiver, Grayson Kilburn, Taliesan Cox, and Aaron Edie, took top honors for the day. There were also competitions for campsite decoration, dutch oven cooking, and costumes.

Attendees from our area this year were Mark McTiver, Layla McTiver, Grayson Kilburn, Kadin Hooper, Brock Feldhusen, Casey Edie, Aaron Edie, Taliesan Cox, Evelyn Cox,  Maci Hutchinson, Cole Guertin, Tevye Cox, Bradley Hutchinson,  Lydia Feldhusen, Cassie White, Liam Hutchinson, Thaddeus Cox, and Preston Hutchinson.

Upcoming events include a service and maintenance weekend at Camp Hiawatha, and an open house on October 18 for potential new members. The annual scout popcorn sale has started; please support our scouts.

For anyone interested in joining the fun, please stop in at 6 p.m. upstairs in the Masonic Lodge on the 3rd Tuesday of the month or go to BeAScout.org.