As I write this we are 180 days away from the opening of the 2013 National Scout Jamboree at the Summit. We remain on track for close to 40,000 attendees as registrations grow and the excitement continues to build. Hopefully you saw the announcement of our lead performers for the two main shows at the jamboree: Carly Rae Jepsen on Tuesday July 16 and Train on July 20th. Both promise to be great shows.

My last blog updated you on our staffing situation. There are still plenty of opportunities to sign up for staff, so if you aren’t already in a contingent or signed up as a staff member, consider joining us for this grand opening event at the Summit. Log on to https://summit.scouting.org/en/Jamboree2013/Pages/Staff.aspx for more information.

I suspect many of you are curious about how preparations are coming along at the Summit. The short answer is GREAT! Lakes are filling, the last of the base camps are being completed; HIGH GEAR and LOW GEAR mountain bike trails are complete and awaiting the spring manicure prior to the jamboree; THE PARK—skateboarding central—is well under construction as is the BMX area THE TRAX; THE ROCKS climbing area is complete except for some finish work; THE BARRELS shooting sports area is coming together nicely; THE CLOUD technology site is prepared and awaiting the arrival of its Tech Quest components; THE CANOPY zip lines are essentially complete… you get the idea.

You probably recognize the adventure areas I just mentioned, but if not, I suggest you check out the jamboree activity map at: http://www.summitblog.org/map/.

While it’s easy for me to tell you about the progress at the Summit, it’s hard for you to visualize it in words, so I asked Gary Hartley of our staff to put together a short video to show you how things are going. This should give you a pretty good idea of the progress we are making, both from an aerial and a ground level perspective.

Enjoy!

Dan