Jamboree Attracts 6,400 Boy Scouts

About 6,400 Boy Scouts from across the Southland learned to cook with a Dutch oven, build model planes and throw tomahawks Saturday as the Western Los Angeles County Council held a three-day Jamboree in Encino, its first in 10 years.

Woodley Avenue was closed to through traffic and turned into a parking lot for hundreds of vehicles, while a tent city sprang up in the Sepulveda Dam Basin.

“We think we’ll probably have 8,000 people before the day is over,” said Hugh Travis, a Boy Scout spokesman.

The Jamboree was held at three adjacent sites: Sepulveda Dam Basin, Woodley Park and Balboa Park. Families began arriving Friday night, with about 3,400 scouts sleeping over.

The highlight Saturday was the First North Carolina Cavalry Regiment’s Civil War battle reenactment in Woodley Park.

Little boys with backpacks and baseball caps lined the field as foot soldiers and the cavalry charged one another. Scouts cheered as the stars and stripes crested a small rise. Gunfire and cannon booms rumbled through the air, slightly less noisy than a rock concert.

The Jamboree culminates this morning with a final Civil War reenactment at 10 a.m.