Rally Day

Who are these? Swinging along the road, with a pack on the back, a song in the heart to ease the load?

It's a hundred years or more since they crowded through the door, and they're coming along as gay and as strong as ever they did before!

Where can you find a Town Friar, blue pompoms, Beaver Tails, matching hats, and 11 000 Girl Guides and leaders in one spot? At Rally Day in Ontario Place!

Girl Guides Canada has all sorts of activities going on to celebrate 100 years of Guiding in Canada, with Guiding Mosaic being just one. Yesturday, a couple of us from our Ranger unit made our way to Toronto for another one of these celebrations, Rally Day. If you missed the memo, or don't live in Canada, Rally Day was an event held across the country, where 45 000 girls and leaders met to sing songs, participate in different activities, and, with the use of blue pompoms, celebrate a century of GGC.

At the Ontario Place Rally Day event, the day kicked off in the Molson Ampitheatre, with some singing, speeches, and a visit from both the Lieutenant Governor and Town Friar.

(The Town Friar)

For the rest of the day, everyone rotated around to different stations. There were tons of activities to pick from - a camp skills race, belly dancing, a GGC movie in the Cinesphere, bracelets made out of plastic bags, improv, origami, noodle games, and friendship bracelets, just to name a few. We were nearly trampled by Sparks in the H2O Regeneration Station, a maze of tubes, slides, and platforms that we found out has a height maximum for a reason.

The day ended with the largest campfire I have ever been to.  We sang The Guide Marching Song, as quoted above, and some of my favourites: Barges, On My Honour, and Land of the Silver Birch. After Taps it was time to start heading home. I give major props to whoever co-ordinated busing. Over 500 school buses and coaches filled the parking lots, and mass chaos would have ensued if everyone tried to leave at once. So, group of 12 buses or so by group, Go Well and Safely by Go Well and Safely, the ampitheatre emptied. It was a tiring but very eventful and fun day. Let me know in the comments if you went to Rally Day in your province/territory! How was it?

Now, seeing as this is a GM Blog and not a What-Rachel-did-on-her-Saturday-instead-of-her-history-homework blog, I do have a few GM-related things to say about Rally Day!

First of all, Rally Day definitely put me in the spirit for GM! It was great to see all of the enthusiasm for Guiding, but it was an event where units stuck together. Getting to meet so many new people who love Guiding from around Canada and the world is one of the best things about international camps :D

Secondly, it was very cool to run into people at Rally Day that Mel and I met at Keystone Quest, an international camp we and six other Ontario girls went to in Manitoba last summer. We saw our two leaders, Linda and Sue, and Robin, one of the Rangers in our group. August was the last time we saw them, and we'll be camping with them and a few more from our group at GM!

Finally, I'm hard at work getting all of my swaps and crests sewn onto various camp things D: I decided last year that it would be a good idea to take all of my swaps off my blanket, and sew them onto a poncho. Taking them off wasn't hard, but now I've got a dresser covered in crests with nowhere to go :/ Who knows what I was thinking. Let me know in the comments whether you put your crests on a blanket or poncho. Or maybe you keep them pinned to you camp hat? Or perhaps a vest? I saw a few leaders walking around yesturday with crests on vests ;) and I thought it was a great idea. The only problem is that I'd probably run out of room! Also, let me know if you're someone who sews your badges onto your sash or blanket or whatever it is is you use right away, or if you leave them in a pile on your dresser waiting to be sewn.

Have a great week!

Days until GM: 52

btw, sorry for the lack of pictures! Blogger doesn't seem too keen on me adding any tonight, but there'll be more in the next blogs :D