The final countdown for the 1989 National Jamboree of the Boy Scouts of America has begun.
More than 1,000 Utah Scouts and leaders will attend the jamboree - an encampment of 34,000 youths and their leaders at Fort A.P. Hill, Va., a U.S. Army installation near Fredericksburg. The jamboree runs from Aug. 2-8 at the post.Of those going from Utah, 432 boys and 57 leaders in 12 troops will represent the Great Salt Lake Council. That will be the largest contingent of any council in America, said Earl Armstrong, the council's jamboree coordinator and director of field services.
But before the jamboree excitement begins, the Great Salt Lake Council and three other Utah councils - Cache Valley, Utah National Parks and Lake Bonneville - all have pre-jamboree tours planned.
Eighty-two boys and 11 leaders from the Cache council left Monday on a trip to New York, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., and Virginia, said Glen Despain, a Cache district executive and jamboree chairman.
A total of 88 boys and 12 leaders from the Lake Bonneville Council, which also left Monday, will be joined by a group of Scouts from Japan at the jamboree, according to Dan Lynch, council programs director.
The Salt Lake council's trip will include sightseeing in New York City, Valley Forge and Gettysburg, Pa., a visit to the historic Fort McHenry Museum, the Washington Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and many places in the nation's capital.
Moviemaker Steven Spielberg, creator of "E.T.," "Raiders of the Lost Ark" and "The Color Purple," and his production company, Amblin Productions, are putting finishing touches on an opening jamboree show.
The jamboree theme, "The Adventure Begins . . . With America's Youth," will spring to life with a razzle-dazzle, laser beam, state-of-the-art special effects extravaganza, national scouting officials say.
Boyd R. Ivie, Bountiful, the BSA's Area 2 director and director of jamboree subcamp No. 10, said the subcamp will be designated "Sigma 7," named after the eighth space shuttle. The subcamp will accommodate more than 1,000 youths and leaders from Utah, Idaho and western Wyoming.
A contingent of Scouts from 17 other nations will attend the jamboree. The BSA's western region will host 96 Scouts from Japan, Ivie said.
Elder Vaughn J. Featherstone, general president of the church's Young Men organization and a member of the First Quorum of the Seventy, and Elder Robert B. Harbertson, a member of the Second Quorum of the Seventy and second counselor in the general Young Men presidency, will attend the entire jamboree. Other general authorities may attend part of the encampment.