Girl Scouts Rock the Mall in Washington D.C. with a Quarter Million People!

Today there was a huge event down at the mall in Washington D.C. to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Girl Scouts. DD was a Daisy Scout this past year and we went to the huge celebration with my niece (who is a Junior Girl Scout).

 Wow! What an event! They announced that there were an estimated quarter of a million people there!

 There were girls of all ages from Daisies (age 5) through Seniors (age 18). We were impressed with how well planned the event was. Because of where we stayed, we opted to take the metro into D.C.  Not only was the metro easy to use, but the Girl Scouts had people stationed with signs that said, “Ask Questions Here,” to help guide people to the right spot. They had a huge stage with various entertainers — dancing, singing — and of course all reciting the Girl Scout Promise.

As you can see the mall was awash with colors.  Lots of Girl Scout troops were wearing shirts of the same color. It was amazing to see girls from the youngest Daisy like DD to Senior Girl Scouts and women who said they’d been members for forty some years!

This is a view down towards the Lincoln Memorial:

People came from all over the country to attend. We talked to one troop that took a Amtrak train all the way from Nebraska (2 nights on the train).  Another Girl Scout we talked to was from Alaska.  We saw scout badges of girls from New York, Virginia, Connecticut, Nevada, Alabama, West Virginia, Indiana, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Tennessee, Kentucky, Oklahoma — and I’m sure many, many more!

There was lots of milling and chatting as girls asked each other to swap. Swaps are small tokens, often hand-made, that are to be pinned to a hat, shirt or memory cloth.  The troops created anywhere from a couple dozen to a couple hundred mementos. They were a way to facilitate mingling and really did let us chat with a huge number of people. Fun!!

Here are some examples of the swaps DD (left) and my niece (right) gathered/traded with other girls just so you know what I mean:

 

4 Responses

  1. Tyra says:

    We are from just north of Philadelphia, and we also attended rock the mall. What an amazing event! We had the opportunity to meet girls from all over the country and learn about the types of things their troops do. I agree, it was very well organized, considering there were over a quarter million people there! My dd and I even had the amazing chance to meet Anna Maria Chavez, the CEO of GSUSA. She has her own patch, and we got one! A fabulous day making great memories.

    • Liesl Den says:

      Wow–what a great opportunity. We had such a great time mingling with everyone. We were all overwhelmed a bit by the crowd (having lived for years and years in an isolated town of 28,000!). What an experience to be with so many people, just happy to share scouting and the fun of being together.

  2. Tyra says:

    We are from just north of Philadelphia, and we also attended rock the mall. What an amazing event! We had the opportunity to meet girls from all over the country and learn about the types of things their troops do. I agree, it was very well organized, considering there were over a quarter million people there! My dd and I even had the amazing chance to meet Anna Maria Chavez, the CEO of GSUSA. She has her own patch, and we got one! A fabulous day making great memories.

    • Liesl Den says:

      Wow–what a great opportunity. We had such a great time mingling with everyone. We were all overwhelmed a bit by the crowd (having lived for years and years in an isolated town of 28,000!). What an experience to be with so many people, just happy to share scouting and the fun of being together.

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