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This summer's National Scout Jamboree netted Caroline County some big bucks, but with extra effort, county officials think they can do even better next time. Date published: 10/15/2001
Caroline County made more than $1.25 million in food and hotel-room sales during last summer's National Scout Jamboree, a new report shows.
The total regional economic impact of the jamboree was expected to be in the tens of millions of dollars, officials from Fort A.P. Hill, which hosts the event, said earlier this summer. But the report, prepared by Caroline's economic development office, did not consider the jamboree's economic impact outside of Caroline. Instead, it focused on getting more people to spend more money in Caroline during the next jamboree, in 2005. "People have really not looked at this in the past for what it is," said Gary Wilson, Caroline's director of economic development. "It's a national event where you get more people here than will fit in the Rose Bowl. They are excited about being in this place and they have money to spend. You have all this money flowing into the county, and we have to find a way to extract it." The jamboree is a summertime extravaganza of Boy Scout activities held every four years. This year's 10-day event drew about 32,800 Scouts and more than a quarter of a million visitors. Caroline's gross food sales this July were nearly $1.16 million more than for the same month last year, when no jamboree was held, according to the report. County hotels earned about $128,000 more than last year. The report also said that gasoline sales were far above typical for July, and that many local contractors and suppliers of building materials were used to prepare A.P. Hill for the jamboree. Exact figures for these two sectors were not available for the report, Wilson said. But the total economic impact encompasses more than just a dollar amount, said Ken Perrotte, spokesman for A.P. Hill. When local folks spend the money they earned accommodating visitors, the jamboree's economic impact is multiplied, he said. Perrotte prepared a report after the 1997 jamboree that estimated it had an $18 million impact on the area within 50 miles of the Army post, when the economic multiplier effect was included.
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