Bicentennial Girl Scout Day

March 12, 1976

A black & white image of the official GSUSA Bicentennial candle,
sold only through NES branches at $2.00 each.
They were to be

lit in a special

"Flames of Freedom"
celebrations held at local councils on March 12, 1976.

Red, White and Blue candle, 9" long, 1 1/2" wide,
burned for up to 10 hours.

This patch was the winner of the GS Bicentennial Task Group's contest.

Each troop across America could submit 1 vote

from the designs shown on the cover

of the Girl Scout Leader magazine March 1975.

The design was officially introduced at the

Girl Scout National Convention in 1975.

An odd variation - only 2 stars on this Horizons 76 patch

Cadette Troop 1293 of Philadelphia, PA had submitted the winning design for the Horizon 76 patch contest. Three of the Cadettes made the cover of September 1975 Girl Scout Leader magazine.

Offical - Front of the sash

Not official - back of the sash

A forgotten bit of trivia - during the run-up to the Bicentennial, the International Year of the Women's pin was allowed to be worn officially on Girl Scout uniforms - both girls and adults. This was related to the "Girl Scouts - Involved since 1912" patch (Shown above) that was also official for a period of time.

Probably the best remembered council patch program was the "If I were a Girl Scout in 1776." It was a wonderful program developed by the Connecticut Trails Girl Scout Council in honor of America's Bicentennial in 1976. This was before there were Try-its and Interest Project patches - so there were only badges offered. They covered a wide range of interest, focusing on how life would be for a girl in Colonial America. The handbook even included instructions on sewing your own uniform for the time!

At a time before council's own badge and patch program, the "If I were a Girl Scout in 1776" caught fire and spread through many councils.

It was a program whose time had come.