100th Anniversary: Girl Scout Cookie Sales Start Friday

Are you ready for “s’more” girl scout cookies? If so, the wait is nearly over.

Friday marks not only the first day girls can sell their famous cookies, but it’s also the 100th anniversary of cookie sales.

Kanyon Allemang of Neligh said she’s excited to sell cookies for the first time. 

“It’s going to be fun,” she said. “I’m going to ask my babysitter.”

More than a dozen Neligh-Oakdale students are part of the Daisy and Brownie troops, lead by Kendra Mortensen and Tina Wilson, respectively. 

Wilson said the sales are a vital part of being a girl scout.

“It teaches them to be courageous and to go out and talk to people they don’t know very well,” Wilson said. “There are a lot of goals that they set individually and as a troop. It’s all about basic things that they’re learning at a young age that will carry them through life. That’s really what girl scouts is all about.”

Wilson said there are five main aspects that it teaches the girls — goal setting, decision making, money management, people skills and business ethics. They’ll also learn about supply and demand first hand since the girls will have the cookies in hand as they sell them, rather than taking orders. 

“They’ll have the cookies in hand, which I think is a huge perk to selling cookies now,” Wilson said. “

For Brownies, cookie sales played an important role in advancing from being Daisies. Wilson helped the girls build a “Brownie Bridge” to help visualize everything they needed to accomplish to become Brownies. 

Josslyn Hoefer said that was a big motivator for her in selling cookies last year.

“Last year the best part was crossing the Brownie bridge,” she said. 
Taryn Wingate added, “It’s very fun selling cookies.”

The girls said they were also very excited about the new 100th anniversary cookie, which is S’Mores — graham crackers and marshmallows covered in chocolate.

“Hopefully, they carry them over for next year, but you never know,” Wilson said. “S’mores were actually created by girl scouts. They were originally called ‘some more’ because the girls kept saying, ‘I want some more.’ The girl scouts did create the girl scout treat that you might have around the campfire.”

Sales start on Friday and extend through March 5.