The Great Cardboard City

By Lori Murray

A daylong building festival lets Ohio Webelos Scouts display creativity while learning about construction from floor plans to financing, landscaping to legal matters.

• It Started with a Boy and a Box

If you build it, they will come—or so the saying goes. But in Toledo, Ohio, Webelos Scouts come to build—a cardboard metropolis.

The popular event is called Construction City. Early on the Saturday following Thanksgiving, more than 450 Webelos Scouts from the Toledo Area Council and their parents converge on the field house of nearby Bowling Green State University to carry out their mission of building the great cardboard city.

Inside the massive building, instructions boom from a loudspeaker: Eager Webelos Scouts and their adult helpers listen carefully for their assignments.

At posts manned by adult volunteers, Webelos Scouts excitedly write out "checks" from imaginary accounts of $1,000 apiece. The boys use the money to buy "land" and to obtain a series of nine "permits" necessary for each construction project. They then draw their lot assignments.

Temporary chaos

Meanwhile, other staff volunteers are surveying the field house floor, sectioning it off in 4-by-8-foot lots to allow six houses to a block, 36 blocks in all. The scene momentarily gives an impression of chaos. But it is soon clear that everyone is dedicated to the common goal of building the cardboard city.

Finally, construction begins. Working in teams of two or three and limited to using one hacksaw, 15 assorted pieces of box cardboard, and an endless supply of plastic packaging tape, participants put their building plans into action.

The gleam of shiny, white hard hats is everywhere, as boys and their parent helpers share a memorable time together. (The recommended ratio of one adult for every boy helps things move along faster and also draws more parents into the event. In fact, for many adults, Construction City is their first active role in a Cub Scouting activity.)

Buildings begin to take form everywhere. Small and square, taller than a man, long and skinny, pitched roofs, shingled roofs, skyscrapers, towers, castle-like construction—every shape and size is represented.

Among a group of row houses labeled "123 Saw Street," Rhonda Bart and her son, Vince, from Pack 252 in Toledo, are experiencing their first Construction City. "This is a bit overwhelming, but so much fun—even for the parents," she exclaims. "It's amazing that we can take these pieces of cardboard and construct them into houses," says Bart, whose son's pack had been on a waiting list since August and only learned of its acceptance to participate a week ago. Although no formal preparation is required, many of the Webelos Scouts have brought diagrams and floor plans. Those who have attended before and know what to expect bring small decorations, created with color markers, cellophane, flowers, chalk, and construction paper.

By 11 A.M., the field house begins to resemble a city. Personal touches, mostly drawn on the cardboard, appear on many structures— pillars, fireplaces and chimneys, mailboxes, stairways, clock towers, windows, flags, bricks, pathways lined with flowers, even an outhouse.

Welcome to St. Clement's

Toward the front of the field house, three Webelos Scouts from Pack 195 of Toledo work diligently on their building. The sign, "St. Clement's Parish," isn't necessary. The stained-glass windows, cross, altar, and flashing Christmas lights reveal the nature of their building.

Why did they decide to build a church?

"Last year we heard that someone was building a house, and it ended up looking like a church," explains 10-year-old Adam Stanchin. "It also represents where we're from—St. Clement's Parish."

Adam's dad, Phil Stanchin, has been to Construction City before with his older son. "The boys gain lots of experience about construction, writing checks, how to work with tools, and working with others," he says. "We were the first group to file for admission to the program, signing up back in June."

Two popular decorating themes are Christmas and sports. One sport in particular dominates—football. Construction City is taking place on the heels of a disappointing (to many of these Ohioans) defeat of the Ohio State University Buckeyes to their arch-rival from their neighbor state to the north, the University of Michigan Wolverines.

"Living in Toledo is almost like living near the Mason-Dixon line," explains one parent. "Because it's on the border of Ohio and Michigan, the rivalry gets pretty intense." That explains why so many structures sport signs reading, "Go Buckeyes!" or "Go Blue!"

'Teamwork is fun'

By 11:30 A.M., it is difficult to walk through the city "streets" strewn with leftover cardboard.

"Section K! You may now break for lunch!" the loudspeaker booms, bringing welcome news that it's time for chow.

By midafternoon, parents and Scouts are tired but happy, because all buildings finally are finished.

In jest, one mom hoists a sign that reads: "House For Sale. $159,900."

Another dad comments while admiring his work, "Not bad, considering our architect didn't show up."

John Watson, 10, from Pack 384 of Oak Harbor, breathes a sigh of relief. "Teamwork is fun," he concludes. "This would've been difficult to do alone."

In another part of the field house, Bill Chenevert, a leader from Pack 167 of Perrysburg, agrees: "Construction City teaches the boys to work together for a common purpose."

Event Director Joe Nonnenmacher meets with a representative from each of the city's 12 sections to present awards.

"I believe in the team concept, rather than individual awards," says Nonnenmacher. Each section of the city receives one of 12 available awards that include "Most Historic," "Most Organized," "Best Overall Design," and "Best Overall Neatness." Every pack in a section gets its own copy of the section's award.

Orderly destruction

No sooner do onlookers begin to admire the city's diversity and ingenuity than demolition permits are issued and its orderly destruction begins.

Within minutes, boys and adults are filing out of the field house with stacks of cardboard that are loaded into trucks that take the remains of onetime churches, houses, towers, and restaurants to recycling bins.

Although her own sons are older now, Mary Lee Foley, a unit commissioner in the Anthony Wayne District, has participated in four or five Construction City events. "I come back each year because it's fun and because it helps to have some adults who've been here before," she says.

"The boys really use their imaginations," adds second-time attendee Ed Taylor, whose son belongs to Pack 117 of Toledo. "I enjoyed seeing the 'Photo-Mat Store' and the 'Empire State Building."'

Rhonda Bart, her son, and his friends are proud recipients of a "Most Fun" award. "The boys are already making plans for next year's house," says Bart.

In less than a half-hour after demolition begins, Construction City disappears. It will spring to life again a year from now, and many of these same boys and parents no doubt will be among the designers and builders of the next, great cardboard city.

Freelance writer Lori Murray lives in Columbus, Ohio. She also wrote "Learning as High Adventure" in this issue.

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May-June 1997 Table of Contents

Copyright © 1997 by the Boy Scouts of America. All rights thereunder reserved; anything appearing in Scouting magazine or on its Web site may not be reprinted either wholly or in part without written permission. Because of freedom given authors, opinions may not reflect official concurrence.