Dennis Fujimoto The Garden Island
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Girl Scout leader Sarah Spalding will have her troop at the Safeway Store in Hokulei Village Shopping Center from 5 p.m. today when market sales start for this year’s offering of Girl Scout cookies.

“We have 2,976 boxes to go through,” Spalding said while waiting on her four scouts from Girl Scout Troop 616, Kapa‘a, to pick up their orders Thursday. “The girls sold enough to qualify for the O‘ahu trip. But this is less than last year when we went through nearly 5,000 boxes.”

Angela Hoover, the Kaua‘i Girl Scout island coordinator, said Spalding’s troop is one of the smaller groups that sold a lot of cookies as she processed the island order that amounted to 3,150 cases, or 37,380 boxes.

“We have another shift arriving at 10 a.m. to help sort the order,” said Renee Hicks, president of the Rotary Club of Kapa‘a. “The Girl Scouts help us with the Taste of Hawai‘i (that event is coming up June 7 at Smith’s Tropical Paradise). We can help them unload the cookies.”

Hoover said the cookies will start appearing at market sales on weekends through the end of March, or until supplies start running out.

“The ‘Ele‘ele Elementary School after-school troop will be at Ishihara Market Friday afternoon to accomodate the crowd expected for the Waimea Town Celebration,” Hoover said. “Saturday, we have the Kekaha troops at Ishihara with cookies.”

Shoppers for Girl Scout cookies are able to visit bit.ly/2EAa39X to find a market site close to them.

“This is the short link for the cookie finder,” Hoover said. “This connects with the national Girl Scout website, and once there, you enter your zip code and the market sites appear.”

Connor Bagels, a Boy Scout, was waiting with his sister Charlotte for the rest of the Troop 616 scouts to show up. He spent his time helping wheel orders from other troops to their cars for loading.

“You want a good recipe?” Bagels asked between loads. “Thin Mints. You put them in the freezer for a while, maybe overnight. You take it out and crush them into small pieces. Mix it with vanilla ice cream — it’s really good.”

Spalding countered with a recipe for Samoas, suggesting a stop in the microwave makes them even more tasty.

Girl Scout Willow Tolentino, outselling her sister Evie by three boxes, said her favorite cookie is the marshmallow (S’mores), while Evie said she likes the Samoas because “it’s the coconut one.”

Lemon-Ups is the new flavor from this year’s offering, joining the lineup that includes Thin Mints, Samoas, Tagalongs, Do-si-dos, Trefoils, Toffee-tastic and S’mores.

Proceeds from the sale of Girl Scout cookies stay on the island and help Girl Scouts with their array of community service projects.

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Dennis Fujimoto, staff writer and photographer, can be reached at 245-0453 or dfujimoto@thegardenisland.com.