CLEAR LAKE — Broad, eager smiles lit the faces of three young girls selling Girl Scout cookies inside Fareway in Clear Lake recently. Alexis Hauge and Anna Feuerbach, both 5½, and Ava Richtsmeier, 7, all of Clear Lake, are Daisies, the youngest of all Girl Scouts.
They were selling cookies “so we have money,” Anna said.
Troop leader Chris Hauge, Clear Lake, said they will use money to pay for badges and supplies.
When she was growing up in Eldora, Hauge was a Girl Scout. She remembers selling cookies door to door, and with her parents’ help was able to come to Camp Tanglefoot on Clear Lake.
The Daisies selling cookies this year are uniting with other Girl Scouts in the seasonal tradition.
Cookie sales, which began in the early 1900s when troops sold homemade sugar cookies, went national in 1937 after the national organization contracted with a commercial bakery, according to the www.girlscouts.org.
The 14,000 girls in the Girl Scouts of Greater Iowa council sold 1.5 million boxes of cookies last year. The best seller overall in Iowa is the Thin Mint, according to a news release.
Of those queried, about half named the Thin Mint as favorites. Each of the others named a different favorite.
There are two commercial cookie bakeries. Each produces eight varieties, said Diane Murphy, regional director for Girl Scouts of Greater Iowa. Both bake Thin Mints, Shortbread, Peanut Butter Sandwich, Peanut Butter Patties and Caramel deLites. In North Iowa, the Lemonades, Shout Outs and Thanks-A-Lot are the three other cookie varieties this year.
When people see Girl Scouts, they ask about cookies, said Stephanie Lau, 11, of Mason City.
“We should have a sash with pockets for cookies,” she said, speaking from her experience traveling to Savannah, Ga., and South Dakota with Girl Scouts last summer.
Cookie sales, which began Friday, will continue through March 12, said Murphy.
This year, cookie fans will have the opportunity to receive cookies immediately. With a new direct sale format, girls and troops will stock cookies during the sale.
As a young Girl Scout, Murphy said she remembers selling cookies with a friend door-to-door.
“I remember putting them (cookies) in my wagon and walking around the neighborhood and selling them directly to people,” she said.
Some girls still sell door-to-door in their neighborhoods, but many troops hold booth sales at a grocery store or a bank, Murphy said.
Alyssa Lau, 17, a Newman Catholic senior, and the eldest of four Girl Scouts in the family, said previous customers just “expect to be asked” about buying cookies.
The Laus send emails to friends and family asking if they are interested in cookies, and she takes an order form to school to seek orders from teachers, Stephanie Lau said.
They also plan to do a caravan sale where several girls will canvass a neighborhood, said Vickie Lau, a Girl Scout troop leader.
“The skills that girls are learning are business skills,” Murphy said. They learn about marketing, serving their customers and business ethics while earning credit toward camp and other Girl Scout programs.source
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