Scout Patch Collectors

Sunday Scouting Hot Finds Newsletter October 16, 2022

Another Charlotte TOR in the books! The weather was great and we had a good event at the church. Some times an idea you pull out of your butt is a durn good one! So when we got the date from the church about 8 weeks ago I knew there would not be time to sell out all the tables. So I pivoted to make the center aisle of the floor plan displays only. Russell Smart brought two amazing displays (see the video in this weeks live show coming up) and Ryan Losonsky nailed it with about 90 panels of his collection (video soon).

The TOR was really a team effort as parents from the local Cub Scout pack set up and took down the tables for us. One of our Scout troops ran the concessions which was really well stocked. Chris Jensen ran some silent auctions which is always fun for everyone to take part in. We had a good turnout from VA and GA this year with several new vendors. My next TOR is Winston-Salem in December although I am considering the NCAC one if my wife would let me do back-to-back like that.

I told a parent yesterday that my goal for the TOR is that every Scout will leave the TOR with a smile on their face. Whether it’s giving away free patches, notebooks or even a real bear paw (yes like taxidermy!) I know that many of the dealers where happy to see the Scouts in the room.

I have 164 live auctions on eBay with a bunch of those ending tonight. One of the things I’ll do this coming week is build out my auction calendar for the next month. I’ve got a lot of stuff ready to list and I gotta keep putting coins in the machine to play.

I got a lot of inspiration from Ryan Losonsky to work on displays. He took an idea I shared in 2014 and ran with it. Now he has literally 90 panels ready to take to camporees, merit badge colleges or even a TOR. I will start tackling my framing project when the dust settles at the office. I have probably 200 Ryker style or Boxware frames plus many large ones ready to go. The thing I really like about Ryan’s design is he combines paperwork, pictures and when needed color placeholders of items to tell a story. I recorded 4 videos with him so in the coming month those will be shared on my live show.

CLICK HERE TO OPEN THE OCTOBER 16, 2022 ISSUE OF THE SCOUTING HOT FINDS NEWSLETTER