Mile Square Park Hosts Its Last Scout-O-Rama

The Gomez family--father Enrique, mom Martha and their three children--joined about 25,000 people who participated in the annual Scout-O-Rama on Saturday at Mile Square Regional Park. But the fun was tinged with sadness, because it’s the last such event at the Fountain Valley park.

The county plans to expand one of its two golf courses at the park, taking away the expanse of flat land now used by the Boy Scouts for the Scout-O-Rama.

The Gomez family and others expressed surprise and a little disappointment at the county’s plans and said they are sad the event is moving away.

“It’s been a lot of fun and inexpensive, because we got in free,” said Martha Gomez. “You know, this is a nice place. It’s not far from our home in Garden Grove, and it’s convenient.”

How best to use Mile Square Park has been a subject of controversy ever since the county announced plans for the golf course expansion several years ago. Model airplane enthusiasts and others who will be displaced by the course tried unsuccessfully to block it.

For the Boy Scouts Council of Orange County, the park’s dirt fields and asphalt blacktops provide the best of both worlds. Scouts can pitch tents during the Scout-O-Rama, while their parents can find ample parking spaces.

“It’s a great location,” sighed Devon Dougherty, a spokesman for the Scout council. “We have the dirt and grass for pounding stakes and dozens of available acres to land two helicopters we bring in here. [We] still have room for our Fire Explorer posts to have their fire demos.”

Dougherty said the Scouts have a year to find a new site. A volunteer site committee has been selected, he said.

In years past, the Scouts have used the county fairgrounds in Costa Mesa and Anaheim Stadium, now called Edison International Field. They have used Mile Square Regional Park for the last five years.

“This is the biggest Scout show in the western United States,” noted Tom Delany, a Scout leader from Mission Viejo.

The Orange County Planning Commission was scheduled to take a final vote on the golf course expansion last week but delayed action.

The plan still requires final approval by the Orange County Board of Supervisors as well.

While Scout leaders Saturday pondered the future of the Scout-O-Rama, the Scouts themselves focused on the day’s adventures.

Victor Owens of Rancho Santa Margarita and son Mark, 7, spent the afternoon pounding away at nails.

The task for the Cub Scout was simple: Hammer a nail into a wooden block. Then remove the nail using the proper technique to qualify for a Wolf badge.

Mark did so with ease. But others had difficulty, whacking the fingers of Scoutmaster John Grace.

“I’m OK; I’ll survive,” he joked.

John Dickens, a Scout leader for Tustin’s Troop 100, helped devise a popular casting-pond exhibit.

The 40-by-15-foot pond was constructed with a plastic liner and a wood frame capable of holding 4,400 gallons of water.

Scouts were handed fishing poles and given the chance to cast plastic lures inside floating hoops for prizes.

“I didn’t get any inside the hoops,” said Scout Dustin Rogers of Costa Mesa. “But this is my first time doing it.

“I did make a basket over at the basketball shoot, though. I made one swish, but then they made me stand further back after that.”