For the 1972 Mustang District Camporee, scouter Bob Johnson thought that every Scout should have a dutch oven, light enough to pack. He shared the dream and the wheels began to turn.

The district got aluminum at low cost, casting very, very cheap, donated bolts for legs and anodized aluminum disks for handles. It cost each Scout $3.25 ($16.48 today) for the camporee fee and that included a dutch oven!! The Camporee was held at Camp Heritage (now Camp Stearns).

With General Mills and Pillsbury in our community, we got loads of cake mix donated. The big event of the camporee was a bake-off, with each Scout doing a cake in his own dutch oven. Bob recruited newspaper, radio and television "Ladies' Page" editors to be the judges - hey, back in those days they had such sections of the paper. Our judges had a ball out at the camp (beautiful spring weather) with the cooking. We ended up with a full front page in the Sunday Minneapolis Star (currently the Star Tribune) B section and plenty of mentions on radio and television.

Stearns Staff Alumni Association Stearns Scout Camp ~ Northern Star Council BSA Viking Council South Haven, Minnesota

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