Irvington News

Girls Night Out

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Adults accompanying Irvington Girl Scouts set up tents for a night in the woods.

June 4, 2023

By Barrett Seaman—

It was unseasonably chilly to be camping out in the woods but a lot more comfortable than it would have been the night before. Predicted thunderstorms and occasionally torrential rains drove the leaders of Irvington’s Girl Scouts to put off the planned June 2nd overnight campout near the O’Hara Nature Center and try again the following night.

It was worth the wait. All told, more than 100 scouts, ranging from Daisies (kindergartners and 1^st graders) to Cadettes (6^th to 8^thgraders), participated, 54 of whom stayed the night in tents patiently constructed with the help of accompanying adults (24 of whom bravely spent the night themselves).

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Scout parent Keach Hagey Harris presides over a marshmallow roast

Irvington currently has 11 Girl Scout troops with approximately 130 girls and 28 leaders who enjoy the support of the village’s Recreation Department’s Recs & Parks Superintendent Joe Archino and CJ Reilly, the Nature Center’s Naturalist.

Overnight gear stowed inside the O’Hara Nature Center until the tents are ready

For the younger scouts, there were games, including an old-fashioned sack race and another competition that required them to bounce on rubber balls the length of a swimming pool and back.

Older scouts organized these competitions, built campfires and practiced the fine art of marshmallow roasting. All the girls got to make bandanas, decorated with their own artwork and useful in protecting their hair while building or cooking over a fire.

Newly decorated bandanas dry on the line

Katherine Lark whose daughter Elena earned a Silver Award for her role in organizing last year’s overnight, said that space limitations at the Nature Center precluded the younger scouts from staying the night. “The Daisies were welcome to attend the event for the day and stay for s’mores,” she explained, ”but not to stay overnight.”

First ball to bounce over the finish line wins

Last year’s event was the first since the pandemic. This year’s almost doubled the number of participants. Soon, the class of Cadettes (currently eighth graders) will “bridge” (a scout term for moving up to the next level) to Seniors. “This is big for us,” said Katherine Lark. “We have not had an Irvington Girl Scout in high school since 2017.” To have girls continue in the scout system creates role models that in turn encourage the younger ones to join—and stay.

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