ABOVE: Siblings Kane and Khloe Wallman blow and play with bubbles at the Weird Science Camp, hosted by Twin Valley Council, in Fairmont in 2024. The event seeks to grab the interests of families about scouting, and encourage children to register for Scouting troops. Sentinel file photo

FAIRMONT – Cub Scout troops from across the Twin Valley Council area of Scouting America will descend on Fairmont’s Cedar Point Scout Camp Saturday, Oct. 11.

The Twin Valley Council includes Mankato, St. Peter, New Ulm, Sleepy Eye and Albert Lea. It goes as far northwest as Redwood Falls and as far Southeast as Grand Meadow.

Weird Science is a day event District Executive Becky Sandquist said is an all day event.

“For Cub Scout families to come experience all types of hands-on fun,” she said. “Science experiments, science demonstrations, and so forth. We also have our archery and BB gun stations, activity stations up and running. It’s free to current Cub Scouting families, immediate families.”

In addition to this, the Fairmont Robotics Club will be doing demonstrations, nature activities will include pollination and building bee houses, bubble science and oobleck slime.

It’s also open to the public and $40 per youth, but parents get in free. Sandquist said the event is helpful as a first big introduction into scouting.

“Any new Cub Scout that signs up for Cub scouting at the unit’s event gets a free rocket kit that they can assemble and launch at this event,” she said. “It was designed to help with having an immediate fun event that families could come to as their first big Cub Scouting experience.”

As for what gets included for Weird Science, Sandquist said they pull from a few different sources.

“We have volunteers that have science backgrounds,” she said. “The gal who’s putting together the program aspect is a chemist by trade. We’ve consulted with a couple of Scouters who are high school science teachers, so they’ve had their input as well. Getting to know the youth in our communities and what types of activities they have curiosities about to be able to make this happen.”

Last year, around 250 youth registered for the event, not including all the parents that attended as well. This year, Sandquist said she hopes scouts are able to spend a day enjoying themselves and activities in nature, unplugged from electronic devices.

Fairmont Scout Leader Jessica Laue remembers the experience she had with her family last year.

“They had a ton of activities, around 20 they had planned,” she said. “It was like a passport book. Everyone went on their own time. They made pennies float via tinfoil, mini boat-building activities. They did the elephant toothpaste within pumpkins, so the pumpkins were spewing out this foam. We did some lava lamp in a bottle type of thing with oil and water mixtures.”

For her two kids in scouts, the fun didn’t end when they left the event.

“A lot of it is ‘Mom, we need to do this at home!'” she said. “Wanting to recreate at home, like the elephant toothpaste and water bottle. My kids are six years apart, so the older brother tried to explain it to the younger sister everything. It was our family time. My son talked about how many pennies he got on his boat, and about how he could have maybe fit more.”

While individual scouting families may go themselves, Laue said there are no plans set in stone for the whole troop to make a trip this year.

Registration for the event ends Wednesday, Oct. 8. For more information on Weird Science and to register, visit scoutingtwinvalley.org/weirdscience/.

Fairmont Scouting is looking for more volunteers. To inquire, visit beascout.scouting.org/, call 507-353-0375, or email greenesb1@gmail.com.