Camporee Festival

In August of 2019, Mountain Productions featured one of their proprietary staging systems at the International Pathfinder Camporee, a festival in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. This festival takes place once every five years and welcomes 55,000+ youths from over 100 countries to play, share, learn and worship together.

Last year’s festival featured our MTN Truss HD+ System, one of our custom engineered flagship systems with the highest capacity on the market. This staging system consists of an eight-tower design that is capable of supporting up to 400,000 lbs. It also includes a completely redesigned roof grid that can be reconfigured to create a span of up to 80’ wide with five cross stage truss spans and a 20’ cantilver, each of which is able to hold 50,000 lbs. The unique quality of this staging system is in its ability to be modified to fit any event making it an extremely popular choice among main stages.

The theme for the 2019 International Camporee was ‘Chosen’ which was highlighted in a dramatic production that covered the lifespan of the Biblical character of David and how he was ‘Chosen’ by God. While this production was one of the highlights of the event, it also proved one of the most challenging aspects of the build. In order to create the large pillars that set the scene for this production, Mountain were required to add 40’ to each side of the performance area to create offstage wings. MTN engineered truss and staging systems were then used to create structural supports for these large scenic elements which included the addition of a life-size horse.

As the Camporee already had a custom set piece design, Mountain Productions had to create their own custom pieces to account for this. Firstly, they had to design the roof of their staging around this custom set piece which involved creating custom towers to fit within the height of the set pieces. They were also required to make a custom base for the stage so that it was not in the way of any of the set pieces when they came down from the ground. Overall, the total structure built was nearly 200’ wide x 63’ deep with custom ramps on the downstage edge to fit behind the scenic pieces.

The adaptability of the MTN Truss HD+ System made it the ideal staging system to use for this production. The sound bays on this structure are designed to rig 50,000 lbs each and the video wings can accommodate up to 25,000 lbs each. As a result, it was possible to add four 30’ wide video supports to the structure along with multiple SP1 Bridges for spotlights.

The versatility of the MTN Truss HD+ System, combined with the engineering prowess of the MTN crew, made for the perfect combination to create this highly technical build that showcased the talents of all those involved. The Mountain Productions crew are already looking forward to 2024 where they hope to create an even greater structure.