Girl Scouts to get their first-ever float in annual Thanksgiving Day parade
Last week four Girl Scouts had a secret meeting at the Macy's Parade Studio.
They'd come to see a piece of history literally in the making: a Girl Scouts of the USA float that will debut at the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in November.
The float will be the first-ever to represent the Girl Scouts at the annual parade, which marks its 90th anniversary this year and draws a TV audience of more than 50 million people, according to Macy's.
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Andrea Bastiani Archibald, chief girl and parent expert for the Girl Scouts, told Mashable that the girls quickly climbed aboard and explored the float, which was designed to celebrate the theme of "building a better world."
When the float makes its appearance in the parade, viewers will see Girl Scouts mechanically maneuvering 3D puzzle pieces that come together as a globe. Some girls will climb on or belay from the pieces while others help power the float via bicycle.
The float will also feature images of the two-dozen badges Girl Scouts can earn, including ones for financial literacy, entrepreneurship and athletics. Additionally, the display will incorporate what current and former Girl Scouts have done to improve their communities.
"Like all of our programs, it gets girls up and actively engaged," Archibald said. "It inspired girls on the float [last week] to start talking about changing the world for the better."
Archibald said the goal of the float is to encourage girls watching the parade on television to have the same conversation on Thanksgiving Day.
"I think we're really demonstrating that girls matter and girls should be taken seriously," she said. "It’s an opportunity to truly celebrate what girls are doing around the country."
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Topics Gender Social Good Family & Parenting
Rebecca Ruiz is a Senior Reporter at Mashable. She frequently covers mental health, digital culture, and technology. Her areas of expertise include suicide prevention, screen use and mental health, parenting, youth well-being, and meditation and mindfulness. Rebecca's experience prior to Mashable includes working as a staff writer, reporter, and editor at NBC News Digital and as a staff writer at Forbes. Rebecca has a B.A. from Sarah Lawrence College and a masters degree from U.C. Berkeley's Graduate School of Journalism.
