Flashback to the 75th Anniversary!
Traditional Stuff 2 Comments 
ann robertson, history, national center west, OFFICIAL scarf, patches, the 80s
In light of the 110th anniversary of our organization, Ann Robertson has been taking a look back at past decades of Girl Scouting on her GS History blog. Recently, she published one for the 1980s, which brought me back to my childhood and the era of when I was a Girl Scout growing up.
This made me wonder what I was going to do to celebrate our 110th anniversary on this blog since I make it a priority to publish something on March 12 and October 31 for obvious reasons. Admittedly I hit writer’s block even as I scoured through past Leader Magazines and handbooks to figure out what the heck I was going to cover. Eventually I decided to do a look back at past anniversaries, but I wasn’t having much luck with inspiration. Maybe I am still burned out from celebrating the 100th back in 2012! I was still a relatively new leader at that point (started the Fall of 2010), and I have to admit the 100th celebration was a little overwhelming because I was still trying to navigate my way through this new world of Girl Scouting that was challenging from the vantage point of being a leader and one where the programming was very different than what I remembered. Oh, who am I kidding? I am still struggling navigating it and figuring out where to go from here.
But Ann’s post about the 80s made me remember one of my favorite patches on my massive patch blanket, and that’s the 75th Anniversary patch that I picked up at National Center West. Our troop visited NCW the summer of 1987, and it was a life changing trip for me even though I didn’t realize it at the time. I’ve written a number of posts about my memories.
The Wyoming Trek rocker came attached to the patch and wasn’t sold separately. Anyone know if there were other “rocker” 75th Anniversary patches out there? I’d love to see them!
I’ve been gifted a few things from the 75th Anniversary including an OFFICIAL scarf (thank you Mary Sue!). Or is it an OFFICIAL bandana? This one never showed up in any of the catalogs during my research for The OFFICIAL Scarf Showcase! So is it really OFFICIAL? The world may never know.
GSUSA in partnership with the USPS released a stamp celebrating the 75th Anniversary as well. Thanks Ann!
You can find a variety of other 75th Anniversary items on eBay including council’s own merchandise.
If you’re interested in checking out the current 110th Anniversary merchandise, you can find those items in the GSUSA Online Shop. Personally I think they should have added the words GIRL SCOUTS somewhere in the mix because I don’t know that the average person out there automatically associates the solid trefoil with Girl Scouting, but that’s just my guess.
Happy 110th Anniversary, Girl Scouts!
GSVSC has a 110 patch! Dedicated to ALL the volunteers who have provided programming for girls during the last 110 years.
I was not a GS as a child. When my daughter became old enough to be a Brownie, I pinned her and she pinned me. Then I volunteered to help with her Brownie troop for 2 weeks — 45 years ago! Here’s a photo of my granddaughter wearing her mother’s 75th anniversary shirt.