Girl Scouts to hold 'Girls Rock the Park'
By DAN FELDNER, Staff Writer, dfeldner@minotdailynews.comArticle Photos
Oak Park will be rocking on Saturday as hundreds of girls and their families descend on the park to attend the second year of an event that was never supposed to last beyond the first.
Girl Scouts-Dakota Horizons will hold "Girls Rock the Park" from noon to 4 p.m. in Camp Owetti. Although the event is being held by the Girl Scouts, it's something the entire family is welcome to attend. It will feature things such as face painting, food booths, a dunking booth, a petting zoo, a clown, a couple of inflatable jumping castles, crafts and much, much more.
There will also be information about the Girl Scouts and opportunities for girls to sign up if they wish.
Admission to Girls Rock the Park is free for everyone, although there is a small cost for some activities such as the jumping castles and food booths.
Loretta Graham, district director of the Northwest District of Girl Scouts-Dakota Horizons, said Girls Rock the Park was created last year to celebrate the merging of six Girl Scout councils from all of North and South Dakota, 13 counties in Minnesota and one county in Iowa.
"We came up with Girls Rock the Park just to get things started with our new council and to let people know that we were now Girl Scouts-Dakota Horizons," Graham said.
Events for the Northwest District of the new council were held in Minot and Bismarck, and at the time it was planned to be a one-time occurrence. Things didn't go exactly as planned, however.
Graham said they were expecting about 150 people to show up in Minot and maybe 300 people in Bismarck. The number of people who showed up in Minot doubled the estimate with about 300, and in Bismarck organizers were blown away when about 1,000 people attended.
"We thought it was going to be a one-time deal until people really enjoyed it and started asking us about it this year," Graham said. "So we decided to do it again."
Graham attributes much of the event's success to the fact that it was not geared specifically towards girls, but towards the entire family. While there is definitely information available for any girl who wants to join, there are also plenty of things for the rest of the family to do as well.
She said they were overwhelmed by how many people showed up last year, and thinks the numbers will be even bigger this year.
"It was a good feeling (last year), because it just shows just how much the community wants that family togetherness, and want to be able to not just bring my daughter to something or my son to something and kind of separate it, but being able to bring the family together," Graham said. "Mom and Dad can enjoy as well as the children."
For more information on Girls Rock the Park or the Girl Scouts, visit (www.gsdakotahorizons.org) or call the Minot Girl Scouts office at 852-5611.
While Girls Rock the Park is targeted at the entire family, Graham said they will also make a point to promote a new program model out this year that helps people understand what the Girl Scouts is all about.
Graham said they try to help girls be successful in all aspects of their lives, cultivate values and build self-esteem while also teaching them critical life skills and letting them have a good time. To achieve these goals, the new program will help girls learn to discover, connect and take action.
"And what I mean by that ... girls will discover who they are, they will connect with others, you know, at Girls Rock the Park, and then take action ... to make the world a better place," she said.
Making the world a better place can be as simple as helping out at a local nursing home or getting involved in the community in other ways, Graham said.
While it's not just girls who are invited to Girls Rock the Park, it's also not just Girl Scout officials who help put it on. Graham said volunteers are the cornerstone of the organization, and without them Girl Scouts would cease to exist.
Graham said Juliette Gordon Low, the founder of Girl Scouts, never asked a volunteer to do a job. She asked them to make a difference in their community. Graham believes this is what motivates their volunteers.
"I just cannot stress the importance of our volunteers (enough). Our volunteers, our leaders, I cannot stress it enough," she said. "It is truly the heartbeat of this organization. I have about six staff in this (Minot) office, and they cover ... probably 15 counties. And you can just imagine they would not be able to do that without the help of our volunteers. It's a lot of ground to cover, trying to reach every girl everywhere."
Although they hadn't planned to hold the event again after last year, Graham says she is pretty sure Girls Rock the Park will become an annual celebration if the enthusiasm people have shown for it is any indication.
"I'm pretty excited about Girls Rock the Park. Simply because I get excited to be a part of sharing our passion with our community and what we're all about, and making it a better place for children in this community," she said. "So I'm pretty excited about providing something, really for the community and Girl Scouts as well."
