Greetings to All (and Merry Christmas!) This is for all 12 North Arlington Troops regarding the upcoming 1999 North Arlington Projectoree.

Much to discuss:

1) When?
The 1999 North Arlington Projectoree will be held April 23rd - 25th, 1999, at Camp Wilson in the Pohick Bay Regional Park.

2) You are Invited!
The following Troops are formally invited to attend the Projectoree: 104, 106, 111, 141, 143, 149, 162, 167, 624, 638, 647 and 648. As of this mailing, Troops 104, 111, 638 and 647 have formally committed, and Troops 106 and 149 have verbally indicated that they will attend.

3) What is a Projectoree?
For members of Troops 141, 143, 162 and 624, who have not attended a recent Projectoree, this is a neighborhood camping event based on Patrol Competitions on an exact time schedule. It is set up and run by the participating Troops, with extensive responsibilities delegated to the Senior Scouts in those Units. This is the "Fifth Annual" North Arlington Projectoree. All four previous events were outstanding successes. For extensive additional information, please see the Projectoree subpage on the Troop 111 website (http://www.troop111.org/proj98.html), concentrating especially on the *1998 Projectoree Guide* and *Detailed Game Instructions and Scoring Sheets*. These will give you a good feel for the "flavor" of this event.

4) District Status
As many of you are aware, I offered to run two Projectorees this year, one for North Arlington, and a second (the following weekend) for South Arlington and McLean. The District Committee has now declined that offer, and will instead hold a formal Spring Camporee separate from the Projectoree.

However, our status has markedly improved with the changeover from Patawomeck to Chain Bridge District. The Chain Bridge District Staff is certainly not overjoyed to see us once again holding an independent event, but we are no longer regarded as a pariah "rebel" group, either. Much of the credit for that change in attitude goes to our District Commissioner, Peter Stavish, and I have invited him and other members of the District Staff to visit us this year (and I am sure that they will do so.)

As always, each Unit must decide whether to attend the Projectoree, the Spring Camporee, or neither. I regret that I have no additional information on the Spring Camporee at this time - but I will of course distribute whatever information is forthcoming via the Chain Bridge District e-net, as I receive it.

5) First Organizational Meeting
The first meeting for this year's Projectoree will be held Sunday, January 10th, 7:30 - 9:30pm, at the St. Agnes Parish Center (1914 N. Randolph St.) ATTENDANCE AT THIS MEETING DOES *NOT* COMMIT YOUR UNIT TO ATTENDING THE PROJECTOREE!!! (that is, "uncertain" Troops can make this a "look-see/get-acquainted" meeting.) Each Troop should bring AT LEAST one Adult and one Senior Scout; more are encouraged. The primary goals of this meeting are to (1) develop the competition games that will be set up at this year's Projectoree; and (2) assign the various Projectoree Staff positions (see the 1998 "Staff Position Instructions" subpage on the Projectoree website.) Troops that have attended previous Projectorees have been asked to develop at least one new game idea for the meeting. Troops that have not attended are equally welcome to do so, keeping in mind that any developed game should involve ALL members of a Patrol, be scorable, and be do-able in about 15-18 minutes max.

As always, I am also soliciting for both Patch and T-Shirt designs at this meeting. A fair number of folks indicated at last year's close-out meeting that we should duplicate the 1997 T-Shirt design (the "Sometimes You Win/Sometimes You Don't" design with the dragon motif); this was by far our most popular T-Shirt, and I have no problem with going with a repeat version - up to you guys.

6) Are you a definite "No!"???
As indicated above, attendance at the Projectoree is strictly voluntary. Several Units have expressed past discomfort with attending an independent event at the "expense" of the District - and I can certainly appreciate that. Others feel that they are unable to provide Adult or Senior Scout Staffing, or develop a game, and so back out - but note that these are things we can work around if you really want to attend.

I any case, to simplify my life (and also avoid filling your InBox with needless electronic trash), I would like to hear from the non-committed Troops as to their level of interest in this year's Projectoree, as follows:

1) Definitely Coming
2) Probably Interested - but will wait `til after the meeting to decide
3) Probably Not Interested - but will wait til after the meeting to decide
4) Definitely Not Coming - remove us from the email list

I would appreciate a note to your intentions (based on the above categories) by Sunday, January 3rd, 1999. I need to hear from the following Units: 141, 143, 162, 167, 624 and 648.

Thanks for your attention. Yours in Scouting.... - Dr. Bob

Projectoree 99 Page.
27 December 1998