Girl Scouts of Lake Forest, Lake Bluff host square dance

The Girl Scouts of Lake Forest, Lake Bluff and Highland Park held a special father and daughter square dance event Friday, March 13, where the girls had an opportunity to spend some quality time with their fathers.

“It’s very heartwarming to see,” said Girl Scout Troop Leader Mary Schoeller. “Because it’s Girl Scouts, a lot of moms [volunteer], and this is a time where the girls can just love being with their dads and their dads can love being with them.”

The special night started at 7 p.m. at Deer Path Middle School in Lake Forest and included square dancing led by a caller, refreshments, and photo booths where the girls could take fun pictures with their friends and fathers.

The local Girl Scouts organization has been holding the square dance event annually for the past 20 years and it is one of the organization’s biggest events of the year.

“The girls love it and want to come back every year,” said Girl Scout Troop Leader Delora Nerger. “You don’t have to know how to dance because the caller tells them what to do. The dads get to dress up and get out of their everyday business attire, and it’s a time when the girls can dress up and wear cowboy hats, throw on a pair of jeans, and keep it simple. It’s nothing fancy.”

Nerger said that close to 500 people attended the dance this year and that it’s a family event, where the girls can bring their fathers, grandfathers, uncles or a male friend of the family.

Girls as young as kindergarten all the way through sixth grade participated in the event, while seventh- and eighth-grade girls and even high schoolers volunteered to help out.

“Anybody can square dance at any age, and it’s fun for the girls,” Nerger said.

The local Girl Scouts organization participates in service projects with schools, churches and other places in the Lake Forest, Lake Bluff and Highland Park communities. These projects range from food and book drives to donating to shelters and caroling.

The girls also earn badges and special bronze, silver and gold awards based on their community service and fellowship activities.

“We try to get the girls to recognize where there is a need in the community and what they can do to make a difference,” Schoeller said. “It’s really a fellowship among the girls because the girls at our schools have so many different things they like to do and with the Girl Scouts, they all come together. We’re teaching citizenship and trying to work on different values in life. The girls are all about service, and they’re all about having fun.”

Schoeller also said that the Girl Scouts organization couldn’t work without the help of its dedicated parent volunteers.

Costs for running the event were covered by an admission fee of $20 for each father and daughter couple. Schoeller said that no profits were made from the event and that the majority of funds for the Girl Scouts organization come from cookie sales.

Todd Bogwill and his eight-year-old daughter, Lola, attended the dance Friday night for the second time and said they enjoyed spending time with each other.

“My favorite part of the dance is spending quality time with my beautiful daughter and having a lot of fun listening to her laughing [and] [giggling] with her friends,” Bogwill said.

Girl Scout members Bianca DiVito, 10, and Gabby Murphy, 12, described the dancing as their favorite part about the event.

“It’s just really energetic, and I really like to dance,” Murphy said.

“My favorite part is when we square dance because you can dance yourself silly,” DiVito said.