The 411 on Troop 411: La Verne Scout Troop to Host Pancake Breakfast, 80-Year Celebration

Marcia Townsend, Troop 411's leader and gatekeeper for the past 19 years.

Just how old is Troop 411? Troop 411 is so old that Mayor Don Kendrick remembers walking into the old Scouthouse on the grounds of the United Methodist Church on D Street in La Verne when he was still a WEBELOS in 1959.

But Troop 411 predates even Kendrick. It was formed in 1929, and with this being the Troop 411’s 80th birthday, Scoutmaster Marcia Townsend and her assistant Scoutmasters are planning a big celebration for October 3, 2009.

“We are looking for anyone and everyone who was a Scout in Troop 411 over the years,” said Marcia, who has ably led Troop 411 as Scoutmaster for the last 19 of those glorious years.

Although plans are still being finalized as to what shape and form the event will take on, she wants all the Scouts who have passed through the historic Scouthouse, originally built in 1886, to mark their calendars now and plan to attend the celebration. If they can’t make it, she asks that they collect photos, notes, letters and other mementoes capturing their most cherished scouting moments and bring them to the Scouthouse on Monday night (hours 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.). Former Troopers can also email Marcia at (ScoutmasterT411@aol.com.

For now, Marcia and Troop 411 have more than enough on their plates. Once again, Troop 411 will be hosting the annual July 4th pancake breakfast in front of the Scouthouse, serving between the hours of 6:30 a.m. and 11 a.m, before the July 4th parade. Tickets can be purchased any Monday night between 7 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. at the Scouthouse or at Troop 411’s booth at the La Verne Thursday night Festival and Farmer’s Market. Tickets are $4, which entitles breakfast goers to three pancakes, three sausages and the beverage of their choice (milk, coffee or orange juice). Purchasing your tickets early lets you stand in the shorter express line, an important consideration given Troop 411 could serve up to 1,000 people again this year.

For anyone unfamiliar with the Scouthouse that Troop 411 has called home for the last half century of its 80-year history, prepare for some spartan conditions. There is no bathroom, kitchen, heating or air conditioning. Patrols (groups of eight to 10 young men) sit on long, hard benches. The floors and support beams are creased and lined with history going back to 1886 when it served as a barn on the Parkard-Evergreen Ranch. It sits tentatively on a crumbling foundation, its chipped and peeling paint a testament to its long, weathered history. Every so often there’s renovation talk of at least adding a bathroom.

The Troop 411 Scouthouse is a converted barn originally built in 1886.

“We’re Boy Scouts,” Marcia said in mock protest. “There is a bathroom over at the church. We’ll unlock it, and they can use it. We don’t need it over here.”

If the Scouthouse gets really cold in winter, there’s a fire ring out by the metal shed around which members can gather.

Marcia took over the Scoutmaster role on a temporary basis. That was 19 years ago. She got roped in slowly when one of her three boys, all then attending Roynon, brought home a flyer. When she attended the introductory meeting, she learned that Roynon didn’t have a Cubmaster, so she volunteered. When her youngest son Ryan was ready to cross over from Cub Scouts to Boy Scouts, she joined Troop 411.

She has since soaked in the history (one of the “Bubble Boy” films was made here, temporarily turning the Scouthouse into a wharf-side Niagra Falls building that had a shark sticking out it) and she has helped make history, too, leading excursions to South Dakota’s Black Hills, Idaho’s Island Park and Montana’s Yellowstone National Park and literally hundreds of other high-adventure outings from Holcomb Valley in Big Bear to Cherry Valley on Catalina Island.

She has also heard and endured the proposals to move the historic Scouthouse, perhaps to Heritage Park or the back of the classrooms on the grounds of the United Methodist Church to make room for a cul de sac of new homes. As frail and old as the Scouthouse is, one could only wonder if it could survive the move?

For now Marcia has more to worry about than the Scouthouse’s creaking old age. She is sorting through decades’ worth of digitized photos of group hikes, cookouts, and Eagle projects, the best of which will appear in a slide show during the Oct. 3, 80th anniversary celebration.  Then there’s the 4th of July breafast that’s rapidly approaching. Never one to wait for the last minute, she is the epitome of the Scout motto: “Be prepared.”

“This is what keeps me young,” Marcia said, her mountaintop view of scouting looking as full of adventure as the first day she accepted her voluntary assignment.

The Scouts of Troop 411 will be out in full force on July 4, serving pancake breakfasts to hundreds of parade goers.