Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, August 12, 1993 TAG: 9308120182
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: BOWLING GREEN LENGTH: Medium
State economic development officials estimate the 30,000 Scouts and their families dropped nearly $30 million in Virginia during the weeklong event.
The effect is most immediate in Bowling Green, a normally sleepy town of 727. The Caroline County town is closely tied to Fort A.P. Hill, the Army base that has hosted the jamboree four times.
Bowling Green's few restaurants and stores were overrun Tuesday as Scouts enjoyed their last full day of camping before the jamboree ended Wednesday. The closest thing Bowling Green ever sees to a traffic jam threaded toward Interstate 95.
"Hectic. It was crazy," said Josephine Amato, as she and her husband Vito scrambled to fill an order for 40 pizzas for the Boy Scouts.
At the last jamboree in 1989, Roma Pizza was inundated, so the Amatos were careful to prepare for the onslaught this year, she said.
The small pizzeria has no storeroom, so the Amatos stored extra dough, sauce and cheese in friends' freezers.
"You don't need a Ph.D. in statistics to know that that many people have an impact," said Doug Fawcett, Caroline County administrator.
"They are here, and they do spend money in our grocery stores, hardware stores, convenience stores, restaurants, hotels and gas stations," Fawcett said. "I suspect if you did a survey, every business in the area would say they did good business - not just during the week that they boys were here, but in the week or so leading up to it and even a little bit after."
Caroline County did not make a formal effort to count the dollars dropped by Scouts and others connected to the jamboree during the three previous jamborees held at Fort A.P. Hill. But Fawcett said county officials plan to study the event's economic impact more closely this time.
The jamboree, held every four years, is the Boy Scouts of America's national summer camp. The week of jampacked activity drew Scouts from every state and more than 50 foreign countries.
It is also an opportunity for family vacations. Many families travel with their sons and stay nearby, typically taking in tourist sites before or after the jamboree.
"We have seen a lot of Civil War areas, which is something we are interested in. My wife also wanted to see the discount stores in Williamsburg," said Don Arnett, who drove a van from Illinois with his wife and daughter. Son Shawn, 15, was at the jamboree.
The family also made stops in Washington, D.C., before the jamboree began and planned to drive along part of the Blue Ridge Parkway on the way home.
The state Economic Development Department estimated visitors connected to the jamboree would spend $22 million on meals, entertainment and purchases in Virginia, said department spokeswoman Susan Wysocki.
"They are everywhere," Wysocki said.
Scouts and their families visited the Kings Dominion amusement park, Richmond, Jamestown, Williamsburg and Fredericksburg in large numbers, she said.
In Fredericksburg, 20 miles north of the Army base, restaurants were unusually crowded over the weekend.
The hotels and campgrounds within 30 miles of the base were booked, some weeks in advance. The jamboree participants will spend about $5 million on lodging in Virginia, Wysocki said.
"Its really hard to say how much they are spending, but it is something. They all have some money to spend," said Jo Love Willis, director of the Fredericksburg Visitors Center. The center has been swamped with visitors, she said.
The jamboree also brings in tax revenue for the state and local governments, but those figures will not be complete for several weeks.
The Boy Scouts also estimate they spent close to $1 million on construction projects preparing for the jamboree, much of it with local contractors.
by CNB