Strawberry Fest success depends on volunteers like Owego’s Boy Scout Troop 60

Owego’s Boy Scout Troop 60 gives the phrase, “It takes a village” a whole new meaning following their contributions at the 37th annual Strawberry Festival. The Scouts faced one of the Strawberry Fest’s most challenging tasks, taking care of all of the garbage and cleaning up after thousands of guests.

Nearly 100 scouts, leaders, parents and other community members pitched in and volunteered their time and service both days of the Strawberry Festival, June 16 and 17, and helped set up, clean up, pick up, sweep up, collect and haul away garbage, along with other duties. The scouts also set up of multiple tents for the event on the Wednesday before the Friday Night Block Party and as their own fundraiser activity, helped park vehicles.

“We started this in 1992,” commented Scout Master Matt Lewis, adding, “Since then we’ve expanded our efforts because the Strawberry Festival has grown so much, and it’s a real challenge.”

Following the fireworks show at the Friday Night Block Party, Troop 60 stayed until nearly 1 a.m. cleaning up, and then returned to action by 7 a.m. on Saturday morning. After the event ended at 5 p.m., scouts worked hard for several hours afterwards, putting their own definition spin on the word diligence.

To help efforts run smoothly, Lewis explained that groups of scouts were assigned to different streets at the festival. Garbage bins were checked by scouts every half-hour, and after being changed, were transported to a central dumpster location until the very end when what seemed like endless garbage bags were loaded in trucks and trailers and hauled away. Attention was given to every nook and cranny, from the Courthouse Square to the parks and the Riverwalk, parking lots and surrounding streets, while utilizing leaf blowers, street brooms, and in many cases, picking up garbage by hand.

Lewis, who has been involved with the Scouts for more than 20 years, explained that Scouts take away from the volunteer work a great pride in community service, and in turn the work rewards them with credit toward merit badges. A donation given to the troop from festival organizers is used toward scouting events such as summer camp.

And it wasn’t all work for the scouts; the group marched in the Saturday morning parade and did manage to find a little time to enjoy food and fun at the festival. 

Troop 60 scouts participate in various other community services during the year, such as placing flags at cemeteries just before Memorial Day. From whitewater rafting to scuba diving to flying an airplane or visiting local businesses to learn about careers, Troop 60 scouts participate in a wide selection of interesting activities.    

The largest troop in the Baden Powell Council, Troop 60 has 87 registered youth and 21 leaders. For more information contact Scoutmaster Matt Lewis at (607) 624-0911.