About 675 Cub Scouts, siblings and parents pitched their tents Friday night at Becky's Drive-In in Walnutport for the annual North Valley District Cub Scout Campout & Movie Night.

"It's almost like a big play date for scouting," said Steve Solderich of Pack 588 in New Tripoli. This is the second year he has attended the event with his family."It's always fun when everyone comes together," he said.Diane Lariar, director of the Minsi Trails Council North Valley District, said the event has been going on for about 10 years. September is recruitment month, so it's a great introductory activity for new Scouts and families."A lot of these are new little guys," she said. "It brings so many Cub Scouts and their families together. You end up becoming best friends with these people."Lariar also said that Minsi Trail Council is running a pilot program this year for kindergartners called Lion Cubs."We are very excited about starting it," she said. "Kindergartners come to us all year long and say they want to join, and we have to tell them they have to wait until first grade and their little faces are so long."Now, she won't have to disappoint them.The Minsi Trail Council encompasses six counties: Lehigh, Northampton, Carbon, Monroe, Luzerne and Warren County in New Jersey. In all, there are about 10,000 Scouts and 5,000 adult volunteers.The camp out at Becky's Drive-In was open to the whole council, Lariar said.The Cub Scouts also got a patch.At the drive-in, each pack was given an assigned campsite. The tents filled the parking area for screen one. Each tent represented a car, Lariar said. Screen two was open to the public.While it was still daylight and parents pitched the tents, the children clamored over a rainbow-colored moon bounce and a dragon moon bounce, played in the playground and took turns riding the trackless fire engine.Pack 33 Cub Scout Logan Pierson-Balik, 7, said he was mostly looking forward "watching 'Storks' and also going on the firetruck."The featured films for the night were "Storks" and "Pete's Dragon."James O'Brien, 9, also a Cub Scout out of Pack 33 in North Valley, said he was looking forward to "sitting in my dad's lawn chair that he never lets me sit in."His dad, Keith O'Brien, responded, "He is sadly mistaken about that."Locally, the council's first Scout troops were established in the Allentown and Easton areas more than 105 years ago.To learn more about scouting, visit

www.minsitrails.com.