The weather cooperated for the dedicated scouts who had put their all into the cars they raced down the Holmes Street hill in Marion on Saturday morning.
The Marion Cub Scout Pack 32 bi-annual Soap Box Derby drew a crowd of scouts, scoutmasters, and parents to cheer on the racers as they whizzed down the street.
The look of intense concentration of the young drivers as the homemade cars sped down the hill epitomized the seriousness with which the scouts take this competition.
The level of expertise and determined effort the scouts put into the contest is unmistakable. The scouts refurbish cars from years prior, as well as design and build new models.
It is most evident in the team spirit and tone of cooperation at this event that this day is as much about friendship and camaraderie as it is about competition.
Dan Crete, whose son Tapper raced this day and whose house stands at the finish line at the bottom of Holmes Street, says that ever since his son was little he would watch the race and long for the day he could join the scouts and race in his own Soap Box Derby. Crete adds that he was in scouting as a boy, but that this race and other activities the scouts do now are “so much cooler than when I was a scout.”
The leadership cultivated in the boys was made apparent when a car went careening off the course and the driver was cheered on and encouraged to get back on course and finish the race.
Whether it was the excitement of winning or merely making it successfully down the hill, the day was filled with fun, good-natured competition and the satisfaction of engineering and building a winning car.
Of the five dens represented at the race, Arrow of Light took most of the races, followed successively by Wolf, Weblos, Bear, and Tiger/Lion.
By Sarah French Storer
