Saturday, January 16, 2009

Thousands of children from across the Midwest are taking a trip to the past this weekend. It's the annual Boy Scout Trapper's Rendezvous in Harvey County. It's a chance for kids to learn all about life in the early 1800's.

30 years ago, the Trapper's Rendezvous was just 20 local Boy Scouts for the weekend. Today, it is more than 5,000 kids from six different states.

"It takes hours and hours of planning, but on top of that, it's just leaders bringing their kids out here and teaching them how to behave in large group scenarios like this," said Riley Greenwood, who helped organize this year's event.

It's also a time for kids to get a chance to camp out in weather that most of us would think was terrible.

All during the weekend, scouts learn about early American settler life... how they trapped their food and made their wares. A big part of that life involved bartering.

"I got this deer leg from a guy," said Austin Edwards as he proudly showed off his loot. "I don't remember what I traded it for, but I got a whole bunch of other stuff that I traded."

One story goes that a recent camper picked up bartering skills so well, he ended up trading nothing for something.

"It was just a simple rock that he picked up off the ground," said Greenwood. "He traded it up for a fur coat."

J.W. Waldschmidt
Rendezvous Camper
"There's certainly something to learn from the old mountain men bartering skills to getting rid of some of mom's junk from the garage sale," said J.W. Waldschmidt from Derby. "Lots of stuff to do out here."

Campers could learn about things like hatchet throwing and even black powder rifle shooting. The 33rd annual Trapper's Rendezvous runs through Sunday at Harvey County West Park.