Conclave fees then and now

In 1968 Virginia OA lodges attended the Area III-C Pow Wow, hosted by Powhatan Lodge 456 at Camp Powhatan in Hiwassee, VA. The fee to attend this event was $5.50, plus another $.50 for breakfast on arrival Saturday morning.

The Kecoughtan Kryer January 1969 edition reports conclave fees for the Pow Wow hosted by Nawakwa Lodge were $7.00. The National OA Conference at the University of Indiana in Bloomington the same year cost $85 including transportation.

In 2011 the fee to attend the SR-7A conclave is $40.00, a 667% increase over what an Arrowman paid in 1968. This is more than the standard rate of inflation from 1968-2001 which was 542%. Still, things cost a lot less back in 1968: gasoline was 34 cents a gallon, a postage stamp cost a nickel, and a car averaged $2,450. The average annual income was $9,670 and the minimum wage was $1.60 an hour. The consumer price index doesn’t track Scout patch prices, but I feel pretty sure that they’ve soared in cost, too.