The cookies are coming

This Friday will mark the beginning of a nationwide event cookie aficiandos everywhere anticipate each year -- Girl Scout cookies will be going on sale.

Local Brownie Girl Scout leader Tara Charles said the scouts will start going door-to-door to take pre-orders for the tasty treats starting Friday.

Sales from the cookies help local councils:

* Recruit and train volunteer leaders for each troop/group.

* Provide the financial assistance needed to make Girl Scouting available for all girls.

* Improve and maintain camp and other activity sites.

* Keep event/camp fees for all members to a minimum.

* Sponsor special events and projects.

Cookie sales are steeped in a tradition that goes back to 1917. According to www.girlscout.org, the first Girl Scout cookies came from the kitchens of members. The Mistletoe Troop in Muskogee, Okla., baked cookies and sold them as a service project. Five years later, a cookie recipe distributed through a member magazine suggested selling them for 25 to 30 cents per dozen.

By the 1940s, the idea had caught on and commercial bakers were providing the cookies. In 1951, they came in three varieties. There was a shortbread cookie, a chocolate mint cookie and a sandwich cookie. Varieties changed and expanded over the years.

Today there are eight varieties of cookies, with shortbread, peanut butter sandwich and Thin Mints. The Thin Mints are the most popular of all Girl Scout cookies, making up 25 percent of sales.

The cookies will sell for $4 per box.

To kick off the pre-sell season in Vernon County, area Girl Scouts also are planning to carry on a popular local tradition -- the annual Cookie Crunch-Off. Held this year at the City/County Community Center Friday evening, teams will square off to find out which team will have the fasted crunchers in town.

The event begins with a carnival at 6:30, with the crunch-off scheduled for 8 p.m. There is a $2 admission fee.

This year's Cookie Crunch-Off competitors will include teams from the Wal-Mart Supercenter, Nevada Fire Department, Girl Scout leaders, and the Truman Tiger Teachers.

Parents are welcome to stay and watch the festivities, and free popcorn and Kool-Aid will be provided.