Jackson Progress-Argus

Members of Girl Scouts Troop 344 chose to represent Germany during the Heart of Georgia International Festival on Saturday at the Butts County Community Center.

Jackson — Dozens of Girl Scouts from troops across Butts County participated in the Heart of Georgia International Festival on Saturday, at the Butts County Community Center gymnasium.

Girls from eight different area troops decorated display boards and tables, and handed out samples of food and other items representative of foreign countries such as Germany, Australia and China.

“This is to teach the girls that they are part of something bigger than Butts County, bigger than Georgia and bigger than the United States,” said Christy Brannon, the director of the Heart of Georgia Girl Scouts service unit, which covers Butts County. “They are part of the world association.”

Brannon said that association, of which Girl Scouts is a part, is known as the World Association of Girl Guides.

On Saturday, members of eight of the nine Butts County troops showed off what they learned about the country they chose to highlight as part of the festival. Brannon, the troop leader for Troop 10539, helped distribute quesadillas and tortilla chips and guacamole, as her group had chosen Mexico.

Girls participating in the festival also shared swap items from their countries, to help teach other girls about all of the nations represented. Members of Troop 10539 gave out tiny sombrero lapel pins while members of Troop 344, which chose Germany to highlight, passed out pretzels.

“This is about connecting with all the girls .. and learning about their country,” Brannon said.

Blakelie Allen, 8, a third-grader at Stark Elementary School and a member of Troop 10534, said she learned about the animals of Australia as part of her troop’s entry in the International Festival.

“Kangaroos are [Australia’s] most loved animals,” she said.

Countries represented in the festival also included Spain, China, the United Kingdom, Poland and India.

Brannon said that Girl Scouting in Butts County has exploded in popularity in the past two years, with membership doubling in each of those years. She said there are now 148 Girl Scouts in Butts County.

This year, Girl Scouts will be celebrating its 100th anniversary. The local group will be holding an anniversary celebration and rededication ceremony to mark the occasion on March 17, at 11 a.m., at the Community Center gym.

With a group of 18 girls, Juliette Gordon Low began the first troop of American Girl Guides March 12, 1912 in Savannah.

The name of the organization was changed to Girl Scouts the next year, and today, Girl Scouts of the USA boasts of 3.2 million members, and as many as 50 million alumnae in the U.S., according to the girlscouts.org web site.

To mark the 100th anniversary of the organization’s founding, Butts County’s Heart of Georgia Girl Scouts service unit will hold an anniversary celebration and rededication ceremony Saturday, March 17 at 11 a.m., at the Butts County Community Center, 576 Ernest Biles Drive in Jackson.