As the three tractor-trailers pulled into the parking lot at Gerber Scientific on Kelly Road near the Vernon-South Windsor line over the weekend, Girl Scouts from surrounding towns began to get giddy.
Yes, the cookies had arrived.
''The best part of it is the excitement,'' says Michelle Schifley, the service unit manager for all the Vernon Girl Scout troops. "It is a a lot of fun.''
Just how many cookies were there? The three tractor-trailers were full. Schifley alone took home 137 cases, each with 12 boxes in a case.
The cookies are supplied by Louisville, Ky.-based Little Brownie Bakery and the scouts make 75 cents in every $4 box of cookies sold. Cookie season lasts until the end of March.
A lot of orders from family, friends and business associates of the scouts' parents have already been taken. Many troops in the area will begin setting up booths over the next two weeks for sales to the general public. For example, Vernon Girl Scouts will be at Stop & Shop over the next two weekends.
Girl Scout Cookies have been around for more than 70 years. In 1933, Girl Scouts of Greater Philadelphia Council baked cookies and sold them in the city's gas and electric company windows. Just 23 cents per box of 44 cookies, or six boxes for $1.24 helped girls develop their marketing and business potential and raise funds for their local Girl Scout council program. In 1934, Greater Philadelphia became the first council to sell commercially baked cookies.
The biggest sellers, according to the Girl Scouts are:
• 25 percent - Thin Mints.
• 19-percent - Samoas.
• 13 percent - Tagalongs.
• 11 percent - Do-si-dos
• 9 percent - Trefoils
So what's Schifley's favorite?
''The Do Si Dos,'' she says. ''I like the peanut butter. Give me some milk and I can put a whole sleeve in there, just like cereal.''
Click here to see times and dates for local Girl Scout cookie booths.
