This Saturday, the 10th, is a bike rally! We will be riding on the South County Bike Trail. Details on where and when we are meeting will be posted here shortly. The rally is from 1 to 4.

You can bike, roller blade, scooter (foot-propelled, not motorized), or just walk! All family members are invited! Helmets are required (and additional safety gear if roller blading is required as well) for ALL riders. There will be no exceptions (BSA is very clear on this point).

More details in this space before Saturday.

The annual Pack 6 Fishing Derby is being held at Lincoln Woods State Park on Saturday, April 26th from 10:00 AM until Sunset!  We have reserved sites 48 - 58 located immediately left of the main entrance.  Sites 25 - 28 are also reserved for both Saturday and Sunday, April 26 + 27 for those who wish to take the family there for the day.
 
We're making this one a Pot Luck, so please bring something to cook over the fireplace!  Cold dishes are also welcome!
 
There will be prizes awarded for various types of catches for the fishing derby: Biggest Fish and Most Unusual Catch

On April 28th at 6:30pm, we will hold a Rally Night like we did last September. The theme of “Just like Magic!” will be sure to energize our group by encouraging the neighbors in our community to bring new members into our pack. We encourage anyone who has any experience with magic to talk to their den leader. This is your chance to perform in front of a live audience! More details to follow in this space!

To all parents: unless your den has a regularly-scheduled meeting planned, Cubmaster Bob will hold a seminar Monday, April 14th - "FISHING!" The topic will cover the basics of freshwater fishing for various types of fish, the items needed for packing a tackle box, bait types and how to bait a hook.  Casting techniques using closed and open reels will be demonstrated as well.

The Pack 6 Pinewood Derby is slated for Saturday, March 15.  All cars must be registered.  The registration desk will be open between 8:45 - 10:00am.  Allcars must meet BSA rules, specifications and guidelines as posted on the Pack 6 website. All cars must be made with the parts supplied in the kits.  No alternate wheels, axels (i.e. - Pinepro) or car bodies may be used.  Cars that exceed these guidelines will not be allowed to compete. All cars will be impounded upon registration.

The order for the races and approximate times are scheduled as follows:

• 8:45 AM to 10:00 AM: Car Registration and Weigh-In
• 10:00 AM to 10:45 AM: Tigers, Den 7
• 10:45 AM to 11:30 AM: Tigers, Den 6
• 11:30 AM to 12:00 PM: Wolves, Den 5
• 12:00 PM to 12:30 PM: Bears, Den 4
• 12:30 PM to 1:00 PM: Weblos: Den 3
• 1:30 PM to 2:00 PM: Final Races

The races will be based on double elimination.  Every scout will have the opportunity to race his car at least twice.

UPDATE: All families are invited to make or buy baked goods and sell them in our snack shop (proceeds to benefit the pack)

Just a reminder that this Saturday, 1 March, is the Pinewood Derby Trials! At this event, we will have the track set up for test runs and pit crews available to help you get your car up to race specifications. We strongly urge everyone to take advantage of this so that we do not have so many cars not ready for racing on the actual race day (15 March) that we either start far too late or, worse, have to turn away anyone (we do not want that to happen!).

As an added bonus, sibling cars, parent cars, and even old cars are welcome on trials day. Come have some fun and get your car ready for the actual race!

St. David's, 9:30AM to 12PM, Saturday 1 March.

We have updated the pack calendar for events for the rest of the program year and through the summer. Please visit the calendar page and/or download the printable calendar for your fridge! Remember, the website is authoritative over the printed calendar and please verify you have the latest version of that (16 January 2008 as of this writing).

Cubmaster Bob Dosdourian will be presenting a Pinewood Derby Car-building seminar Saturday, December 29th at 1:00 at St. David's church.  This seminar is a must-see for those parents who have not built a car before and who want to get a headstart on how to make one. Bring your scouts and be ready to take notes!

Happy Holidays Everyone!

Happy Holidays Everyone!

The theme for December is Celebrations Around the World and the Holiday Party and Pack Meeting, on December 17th, will use that theme. Ideas for Den Leaders may be found in Baloo's Bugle and in the Cub Scout Helps booklet (available at the Scout Shop). Den leaders should start planning now for their den presentations and award ceremonies. Class 'B' uniforms (T-shirts) will be distributed, as will the kits for the Pinewood Derby cars!

Every Holiday season, Pack 6 traditionally helps The Comprehensive Community Action Program (CCAP), a private nonprofit community action agency that is one of Rhode Island's largest organizations dedicated solely to helping poverty-stricken families, by obtaining gifts for a family (or two) in need. Tags will be handed out at our upcoming den meetings. Please help by choosing a tag and making a gift for someone in our community. Details will be made available on Monday night, December 3rd. Gifts will be collected at the Holiday Party.

Parents, The Pack 6 leadership team is in the process of creating seminars to communicate what we do and how we do it. Please watch this space for details about what we can do to help you help your sons progress through the scouting program.

The next few weeks look like this:

• December 3: Den Meeting
• December 10: Den Meeting
• December 17: Pack Meeting/Holiday Party
• After that? TBD!

Bob Dosdourian
Cubmaster, Pack 6

Our next meeting, after the St. David's Cleanup and Cookoff, will be a Pack Meeting on Monday, 26 November at 6:30PM. All dens are asked to prepare skits, songs, and more in the theme of American Indian Heritage Month.

Every fall we give back a little to St. David's for hosting our pack by taking care of their leaves. We will meet at the Church at 9AM on Saturday and rake until we're done. St. David's provides the leaf bags. We bring the rakes, leaf blowers, and anything else we need to get the job done. Then we head over to the Pastor's house (nearby) and take care of her yard as well.

Afterwards at noon, we will meet at the parking lot of Cranston West High School on the north side of Meshanticut Lake and "hike" all of our supplies for our cook-off to the south side of the lake where the firepit is. It's den against den here.

The old stone fireplace at Meshanticut Lake has been reduced to a pile of rubble! The leadership team of Pack 6 Cranston is in the process of renovating the old structure because it was in such a bad state. This volunteer program was begun because we traditionally use this area for fishing and for our Den Cookoff the weekend after Thanksgiving. If you have some time to spare this Saturday, November 10th, please consider taking a few minutes to swing by (at noon) and lend us a hand with the cleanup and rebuilding project! The new design will accomodate fires made by small parties and large ones.

This project will help not only the members of Pack 6 Cranston, but the community as a whole! Come and see what it's about! We're just getting started!

Bob Dosdourian
Cubmaster, Pack 6 Cranston

Attention Tigers!

Since there is no Den Meeting on the 12th, it's a great day to squeeze in a Go See It to fulfill the Tiger 1G requirement!!

The Tigers will be meeting at the Museum of Natural History and Planetarium in Roger Williams Park at 10 AM on November 12th (Monday) for a tour of the museum and to complete a Native American Scavenger hunt!

It should last about an hour. I hope you all can attend!

Please respond via phone or email to Hollie. Her contact information is on the Leaders page and in the email she sent out to everyone.

While we have no official Den Meetings on Monday the 12th due to the Holiday, Cubmaster Bob will be doing a workshop on campfire cooking. This is an excellent way to prepare for our annual cookout at Lake Meshanticut on the 24th!

On Saturday, 3 November at 9AM, all dens will meet at the pre-determined locations (whatever you agreed to last week, contact your Den Leader if you don't know where) to pick up the donated food in the food bags. Each den will go through the same neighborhood as last week picking up the bags full of food. After retrieving all bags, they should be brought to the Sockanosset Cross Road fire station where Boy Scouts will unload the bags from the car(s). This is one of our big community service events of the year so please make every effort to attend.

UPDATE: Despite the rain, we are still on for Saturday at 9AM. Do not bother with uniforms. Dress your scout for the weather.

To all members of Pack 6, Cranston,

The old stone fireplace at Meshanticut Lake has been reduced to a pile of rubble!

The leadership team of Pack 6 Cranston is in the process of renovating the old structure because it was in such a bad state. This project was begun because we traditionally use this area for fishing and for the Den Cookoff the weekend after Thanksgiving.

If you have some time to spare this (UPDATED) Sunday, November 4th, please consider taking a few minutes to swing by (at noon) and lend us a hand with the cleanup! The old rubble will be discarded and some of the old stones will be separated and used with new ones to build a new structure. The new design will be round, providing access points from sereral directions at once in order to accomodate fires small and large.

This project will help not only the members of Pack 6 Cranston, but the community as a whole! Come and see what it's about! We're just getting started!

Bob Dosdourian
Cubmaster, Pack 6 Cranston

On Saturday, 27 October at 8AM, all dens are asked to come to St. David's to pick up your food bags and neighborhood maps. Each den is assigned a different neighborhood and you will go door to door distributing bags for food donations. A week after (3 November) we will go out again to collect the food that has been donated. This is one of our big community service events of the year so please make every effort to attend.

Note: some dens may opt to distribute the bags on Sunday. Your den leader will let you know if the time differs from what is listed here. (Den leaders: please let Andy know if you are not doing this on Saturday. However, be aware that someone from your den still has to come at 8AM on Saturday to pick up the bags.)

Join us on Monday, October 29th for an evening tour of Champlin Scout Reservation on Scituate Avenue.  Meet in the parking lot at Champlin Reservation at 6:30 sharp and prepare yourself for a fun-filled time of an evening walking the haunted grounds of our local day camp!  A warm, cozy fire and refreshments will be served afterwards, so don't miss out on the fun!  This is a free event, so bring a flashlight and night vision goggles because you never know what might be hiding in the Champlin woods!

Note: This is in place of our regular den meetings. We are not meeting at St. David's this week.

Cub scout Pack 6 Cranston will be heading to Riverside farm in Charlestown, RI for a moonlit walk through the corn maze. We will take a hayride out to the corn maze at dusk and try to make our way through the maze by moon light. Cub scout admission will be covered by the Pack, parents and any other children ages 5 to 12 will be $4 (a great discount) and children under 4 are free!! We look forward to seeing you there!

Riverside Farm has tons of fun family activities going on this fall. Most of the attractions close at 6 PM so please feel free to arrive early and take advantage of everything they have to offer. A few of the offered activities are: a gourd slingshot (that just sounds like a blast!!), Farmyard Mini Golf, and various crafts. All activities require an additional fee. Check out their website for details: http://www.riversidetreefarm.com. Be sure to bring a flashlight, or you can purchase on at the farm. To make the transaction easier please bring exact payment for anyone going through the maze besides your cub scout.

Click here or the image (above, right) to see a copy of the flier.

Directions:

• Route 95 south to Exit 1 (in RI).
• Take Rt 3 South;
• turn left onto RT 216 South;
• follow to stop sign (2.2 miles);
• turn left onto Rt 91 East;
• follow to Burdickville Road;
• turn left onto Burdickville road and watch for signs for Riverside Christmas Tree Farm.

See also Alternate Directions (and map) from Google Maps or the directions they provide (with map) on their own website.

It is time once again for our annual Pack 6 Halloween Party!  This event will be held on Monday, October 22nd at 6:30 PM.  Cub Scouts (and family members, too!) are encouraged to wear their favorite costume in place of the Class A uniform!  Come and join us for the festivities!  There will be prizes awarded for these categories:

• most original costume
• scariest costume
• funniest costume

Our first pack trip will be to the USS Nautilus in Groton, CT on 6 October. We are meeting at St. David's at 11:15 AM and departing for points south by 11:30AM. We will stop mid-way for lunch at McDonald's (on your own or bring your own) and arriving at the museum at 1PM. The event lasts as long as you want to stay. This was a huge hit last year!

The Tiger Dens will be holding their first Go See It on Monday, 24 September at 6:30 PM to the Cranston Fire Station (on Sockonosett Crossroads). All boys should wear their Class A uniform.