Hoquiam Loggers' Playday Parade

Generations of Grays Harbor Girl Scouts of all ages have loved to show their colors in the annual Loggers' Playday Parade in Hoquiam.

In recent years, Girl Scout volunteer parade unit director Juli Bonell hasn't been content to simply march. Juli has created themes for the parade that help girls to dream, plan, and achieve.

Last year, Girl Scouts provided a service while marching in the parade by bringing Emergency Preparedness to the attention of the crowds of people lining the streets. They carried signs and passed out brochures with information about tsunami evacuation routes and making home emergency kits to help local residents "Be Prepared".

During Juli's first theme parade, in 2004, Girl Scouts marched dressed to represent their dream career. The girls proudly marched as doctors, lawyers, veterinarians, police officers, a president, teachers, scientists, dancers, a marine biologist, a logger, an artist, and numerous other career choices. There was even a detective in a complete Sherlock Holmes costume.

World Thinking Day is one of the biggest annual events for Grays Harbor Girl Scouts. World friendship and respecting diversity is key to this event, and was the theme selected for the parade in 2005. To show the onlookers the global scope of our World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS), local girls marched in costumes representing many of the WAGGGS member nations. Led by a Girl Scout Honor Guard carrying the American flag, each girl carried a miniature flag of the nation she had chosen.

Held each year in early September, the Loggers’ Playday Parade has become a favorite way to kick off a new year of Grays Harbor Girl Scout fun!