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Local Boy Scouts will come together Saturday evening for the 4th Annual Crane District Shrimp Boil, one of the troop’s largest fundraisers of the year, from 4 p.m. until 7 p.m. Saturday at Play Selma Music Hall.

Tickets, which can be purchased at the door Saturday, are $30 for individuals or $50 for couples and include an all-you-can-eat selection of shrimp, sausage, corn, potatoes, cole slaw and two beverages.

Meals can be eaten on-site, where live music will be played throughout the evening, or taken out.

According to Crane District Commissioner Bob Myers, this year’s shrimp boil has to make up ground lost when the troop’s annual Friends of Scouting campaign, which leans on contributions from frequent supporters and community members, was stymied due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Unfortunately, this year, because of COVID, we only got about half of the money that we have normally gotten in the past and that’s hurt us,” Myers said. “So, we’re trying to get this to hit big so we can try and make up the difference.”

Last year’s shrimp boil raised just over $10,000.

All of the money collected through the fundraiser goes back into scouting, Myers said, either in the form of maintenance at the Scouts’ Camp Tukabatchee, an array of events held throughout the year and scholarships for low-income boys interested in scouting.

For Myers, the importance of scouting – and by virtue the importance of having wide support for this weekend’s fundraiser – has only increased during the pandemic, which has shuttered most youth activities.

“What you have to do, you have to stop and think about what we have in this area to entertain the boys,” Myers said. “There used to be so much for the youth and its fallen by the wayside. In scouting we teach citizenship, we teach respect for our country, we teach all of the survival skills that you need, we teach relationships and how to work as a team – those are skills that the boys are going to learn through Scouts or they’re going to learn when they’re faced with it later in life.”

For more information, contact the Crane District Boy Scouts via email at cranebsa@gmail.com.