20,000-Plus Turn Out at New Irvine Site for Annual Scout-O-Rama

By HECTOR BECERRA

May 14, 2000 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

More than 20,000 Boy Scouts and their families packed the Scout-O-Rama/Exploring Extravaganza 2000 on Saturday, the first time the event has been held in Irvine after years of being hosted in Mile Square Regional Park in Fountain Valley.

The event featured hundreds of activities for all ages, including games, rides, hands-on crafts, canoe races, fire department and cooking displays. Scouts earned up to 60 cents in commission for every ticket they sold for the event.

This year’s gathering was at the corner of Sand Canyon Drive and Irvine Center Drive in Irvine, after development in Fountain Valley forced Scout-O-Rama to move to make way for a golf course expansion.

Scout organizers were impressed by the turnout.

“One of the most amazing things was the larger-than-usual contingent of Scouts from our high school and middle-school Explorer Scout programs,” said Jolie Harnack, director of major gifts and foundations for the Orange County Boy Scouts of America.

The county’s Boy Scouts chapter has a membership of about 56,000, Harnack said.

Travel & Experiences

Hector Becerra

Hector Becerra is managing editor of the Los Angeles Times. A native Angeleno who grew up in Boyle Heights, Becerra’s first foray into journalism was as the editor of the University Times at Cal State Los Angeles. He started his career at the Los Angeles Times in 1999 and was a general assignment reporter until 2014, covering everything from wildfires to crime to Latino cultural trends. He has been among the first to a murder scene as part of a ride-along in South L.A. and has tried his hand as a field worker, picking strawberries in Santa Maria. Becerra was part of the team of reporters that won the Pulitzer Prize’s Public Service award for its coverage of the city of Bell corruption scandal. He was city editor for the California section until 2022, when he was promoted to deputy managing editor. He was named managing editor in 2024.

20,000-Plus Turn Out at New Irvine Site for Annual Scout-O-Rama

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