When it’s also a PR and Membership Project!

West Kootenai Area decided to hold a Brownie Revel in Slocan on Saturday, June 1, 2002. Slocan is a village of 335 people in a somewhat isolated mountain valley. There are no Brownie Units in the local valley communities. Cost would be greater because people would be traveling greater distances; however, there was a large grassy ball park for games and a shady treed area for crafts with a wonderful view of the mountains on all sides. And there were some wonderful opportunities for out trips in such a rural setting.

Program and Activities
We didn’t plan the traditional round robin of crafts and games. Instead, we started the day with all the girls participating in a rainbow dance and parachute games. They then broke up into small groups. Some of the girls stayed on site where they tie-dyed scarves and decorated and planted flower pots. The other girls went on out trips. Some girls visited a local farm where they met the buffalo, played with puppies and bothered the ducks. Another group fed and groomed Icelandic horses. The third group visited a local aviary where they held and helped feed baby parakeets and cockatiels. Max, the parrot, sat on everyone’s hands and the canaries were christened Sunny and Cher. By the end of the day all of the girls had had a chance to visit one set of animals, although the birds (owned by local Guider, Elizabeth Newman) were so popular that nearly everyone went there! We ended the day with a treasure hunt along forested trails and made a wish on the bridge across the waterfall. We also played relay games in the park and we kept the girls occupied during registration with a simple craft and face painting.

Membership Development
We decided on a two-pronged approach for advertising this event. We would circulate the information through the normal Guiding channels to all the Brownie Units in the Area. But then we went one step further by opening up the event to girls aged 6, 7 and 8 in the local communities of Slocan, Kaslo, New Denver and Nakusp. We found a contact person in each community who was willing to take registrations and to ensure that there were sufficient adults to accompany the girls. We put information about the Brownie Revel into all the local school newsletters as well as articles and contact information in two local weekly publications. All the advertising was free.

We were successful in attracting new members. Some of the Nakusp Sparks Guiders were already planning to move up to Brownies next year and expected to have 5 girls. But they brought 7 girls to the Revel after the publicity around the event.

Kaslo didn’t send any girls to the Revel but the contact person (formerly a Chief Commissioner for Papua New Guinea) did receive several inquiries about starting up Brownies again in the fall and the District Commissioner for Independent Units is following up on this and planning a fall advertising and registration campaign. (Good news! We’ve just had two women sign up as leaders at a local mall display!)

The response in Slocan was very positive. Six girls attended the Revel with a former Guider. They had a great time and the teacher told us they were bragging about the event in school the following Monday. And, most important of all, two mothers stepped forward at the end of the day and offered to start up a Brownie Unit in the fall. The District Commissioner has already started providing information and orientation.

Public Relations
One of the Guiders organizing the event had a digital camera and she scurried around taking pictures of every single event and activity.

What a plus! It was easy to email photographs and a short cover article to local, free newspapers. They didn’t all pick up on the event, but some did. There was a photograph of the face painting and a bold heading, “Girls Just Gotta Have Fun!” on the front page of The Valley Voice, a bi-weekly newspaper covering Nakusp, Kaslo and the Slocan Valley. And there was a full-page spread with four photographs and a very short article in the Trail edition of Pennywise. So we had free coverage in two parts of our Area. And a photograph is worth a thousand words.

We had a banner up at the ball park as well as special events signs so Guiding was a very visible presence in Slocan. We also sent the girls out to local, family-run businesses and followed up with thank you cards with photos of the event, thereby creating goodwill and greater recognition for Girl Guides. We also sent a photographic thank you card to the Village of Slocan which had allowed us to use the ball park and facilities at no charge.

Conclusion
55 girls from all parts of West Kootenai Area attended the Brownie Revel. They came from as far afield as Salmo and Grand Forks (1 ½ to 2 ½ hours one way), pointing out the need for large-scale events to round out the Guiding program for girls in smaller communities.

The event cost more because we were in an isolated location, but we took advantage of local farms and activities to ensure a fun day of adventures for the girls. The sun shone; everyone had fun; and we got new members and new publicity. Who could ask for more?