MARIETTA - The annual Boy Scout Expo at Jim Miller Park in Marietta was conducted on Saturday for the final time.

The event draws dozens of Boy Scout troops from the Cobb area yearly to showcase their scouting skills and knowledge in front of hundreds of people. However, the event is scheduled to be replaced next year by Atlanta ScoutFest 2010 in celebration of the Boy Scouts of America 100th anniversary.

Nevertheless, an estimated 800-plus people visited the eighth annual expo Saturday. All levels of scouting units were present for the event, from Tiger Cub Scouts to Eagle Scouts. Mike Cherches, chairman of the Foothills District that constitutes one of three Boy Scout districts in Cobb, said the expo has been successful over the years.

"It's a fun time for them to do fun things and exhibit skills that they've learned through scouting," he said.

The reason scouting has lasted nearly a century is a result of the timeless values that it instills in young people, said Cherches. "Those values are based on the Scout oath and law," he said.

Among the activities the Scouts exhibited were bottle rocket launching, cooking demonstrations, knot tying, skills, games and retiring worn American flags.

Retired Army Col. Tom Welch, Scoutmaster of east Cobb-based Troop 75, led a group of Scouts in flag retirement ceremonies in which old flags were burned according to the U.S. Flag Code.

"We've got about 150 that we're doing," Welch said. "Each flag gets an individual retirement. Each one is folded in the tri-corner fashion. And it receives its final pledge of allegiance before it's consumed in the fire."

Webelos Scout Ethan Kleinrichert, 9, of east Cobb-based Troop 744, attended the expo with his 6-year-old brother Tyler, a Tiger Cub. He said his favorite part of scouting is camping and the activities, particularly those involving BB guns.

"I like to do the BB shooting at Bert Adams (Scout Reservation)," the East Side Elementary fourth-grader said. His mother, Chris Kleinrichert who's a den mother, said scouting is a big activity for her family. Her husband, Steve Kleinrichert, is a cub master.

"We like the fact that it keeps elementary school age boys engaged in things that elementary school age boys should be engaged in," she said. "Yes, they use knots to tie up their sister, but they're not finding out about the big harsh world just yet."

There's a saying amongst Boy Scouts that "Once a scout, always a Scout."

It must be true considering people like John Sullivan, 91, a committee member of east Cobb-based Troop 545. Sullivan has been a Scout for nearly as long as the Boy Scouts of America has existed and is the father and grandfather of active Scouts.

He joined the Scouts 75 years ago in 1934 as a boy in Rhode Island. At Saturday's expo, he displayed the many patches and other Scout memorabilia he's collected over time for the younger generation of Scouts to view.

"I think it's a great program for boys," he said the Boy Scouts. "I had a good start years ago as a Boy Scout and it has continued on."