CEDA held their 16th annual banquet on March 5th, 2011. The event was held at the West Burlington Christian Church in West Burlington, IA. Over 120 people attended the event, which included informational and historical displays, a silent and live auction, a Silver Beaver presentation, and a delicious pork dinner.

The doors opened at 4pm, with dinner at 6pm. The banquet hall filled quickly with mostly adult Scouters and their guests, who milled about drinking coffee, catching up with each other, bidding on silent auction items, and perusing the live auction items.

Guests were seen strolling around the perimeter of the hall, where there were informational displays on hand. There was a slide show that displayed pictures on a big screen from Camp Eastman, dating as far back as the 1960’s up to the present. Large bursts of laughter were heard coming from this area as many Scouters reminisced with each other about their own history at Camp Eastman.

Lon Simpson is back in the states and attended the banquet.  He set up a display that chronicled his experiences working with a scouting unit in the Green Zone in Iraq. Lon had interesting Iraqi scouting memorabilia on display, including patches, bags, hats, and shirts. The banquet was also the setting for a ‘small world’ moment between Lon and professional scouter, Mike Walton, who was traveling from Minnesota to Kentucky and discovered the banquet on Facebook. Mike helped the BSA establish the scouting unit in Iraq, but did so while working from the United States. The two men had never met before, but had communications several times while Lon was in Iraq.

By 6pm the banquet hall was full. Cindy Dorrell said the prayer, and moments later a line had formed to the back wall. Guests enjoyed a delicious dinner of pork loin, party potatoes, green beans and roll, prepared almost exclusively by Kevin Mineart. Second helpings were available for all, and dessert consisted of cake and coffee.

During dinner, president Jim Ellison welcomed the crowd and thanked them for coming. He spoke briefly about CEDA’s accomplishments over the last year. These included the continued renovation of Eastman Lodge, construction of the beverage center, progress on the staff tent cabin renovation program, the planting of memorial trees, and resurfacing of the camp road. Treasurer Dave Carrick then presented a short but informative program about the CEDA’s finances, detailing money raised and spent over the last year. Trent Hancock then handed out a flurry of door prizes for all attendees.

A wave of anticipation came over the crowd when Jim Ellison told them he had a ‘special presentation’ and asked the Dorrell family to come forward. Bill Dorrell was then awarded the Silver Beaver award for his many years of service to Scouting. He was presented the award and a jacket to a standing ovation.

After the presentation, Monte Delzell took over the program and auctioned off 60+ items to the crowd. Guests were able to take home extremely nice items, ranging from historical patches to hand made items, while enjoying Delzell’s extremely humorous ‘show’. (If you have never been to one of Monty’s auctions, you are missing out. Truly a laugh a minute.)

After the last item was sold the hall cleared as quickly as it filled. The remaining guests drained the coffee carafes and then put away the tables and chairs. Overall the 2011 CEDA banquet was a success in terms of money raised and good times. If you missed it, plan on attending in 2012.