Raise the bananas

Every year our scout troop would go to Camp Chris Dobbins at Peaceful Valley Scout ranch near Franktown, Colorado. Like every year in the past the camp director would always ban a certain word. You weren’t allowed to say it at all during the week.

One year it was ice cream all week we weren’t allowed to use the word. But his counselors would divert his attention and tell him there was an incident somewhere in the camp that he had to take care of, and he would disappear. Most of the times this was done during lunch and when he returned, we would blurt out the banned word. One week the banned word was ice cream, all week we couldn’t use the word ice cream. his counselor had him leave on some perceived emergency and when he returned, we all blurted you scream, I scream, we all scream for ice cream. Then his guilty counselors would run out of the dining hall. He would say to us not to be led astray.

On Thursday night as the camp week was winding down, we would all gather to have homemade ice-cream. As we are enjoying the treat here comes the camp director. He figures out we are having an ice-cream social and tries to break it up. His assistant director has him try the cold treat, then all suddenly he loves ice-cream.

The week were there the word bananas was banned. So, we tortured the camp director with the chant of we want bananas. I’m mister innocent and come up with an idea and get my camp guide involved in it as well as staff. On Monday morning my troop volunteers for flag detail. My scoutmaster she sends me to the store to get ten pounds of bananas and I pay for five.

The next morning, we are gathered around the flag poles for the flag ceremony, and we have all of the flags with us. One of the counselors, when our scoutmaster gives already sign, the counselor blurts out “troop 171 please raise the bananas.”

Up the flag poles go the bananas, and the camp director is turning beet red, as the entire camp is howling with laughter. The camp director starts to chase his staff around the compound for about five minutes before order is restored. Then we have the official flag ceremony where we actually raise the appropriate flags at that time. But that day all six hundred boys talked about the bananas going up the flagpole.

We still discuss that every so often and we still laugh. What a great time.