SONGFEST JAMBOREE 2019, CALIFORNIA SINGING STRONG

Singing and playing music can be its own reward. Singing with a few Girl Scout friends can triple the effect! Now imagine singing together with 730 fervent, passionate Girl Scout song lovers, just like you! Yeah, that can be a life-affirming moment!

Robyn Ratcliffe Manzini, passionate Girl Scout and music lover, plus recent recipient of the volunteer appreciation, Thanks Badge II award, and Collene “Chuck” Anderson, super- camper & mom, superb organizer and Amazing Girl Scout, know the feeling of singing with good friends along with friends they haven’t met yet. That’s why they are putting the final touches on the SOLD-OUT 2nd annual Songfest Jamboree in Southern California October 4th, 5th and 6th!

If you are fortunate to be one of the lucky registered campers this year, you are in for one major unforgettable Girl Scout life-memory event! Besides being the largest Girl Scout singing event west of the Appalachians, the Songfest Jamboree is turning into one of the biggest and brightest Girl Scout musical highlights of the year!

Get ready! For the second year in a row, Robyn and Collene are living their dream, a dream to produce a super adventure weekend event centered around Girl Scouts, music and singing together, creating memories that will last forever in a new generation of girls!

Yes, there will be lots of singing, and there will be lots of other activities that Girl Scouts Love for this 3-day event! The Songfest Jamboree 2019 is a combination of high adventure activities, including zipline, rock wall climbing, archery & ropes, dancing, geek-out rooms, hiking, drumming, even hula and so much more! The Saturday night Campfire Ashes Ceremony alone, is 97 pages long, bringing ashes together from multi-generations and geographies around the world! There will be ashes from a fire lit at Our Cabana on the night Lady Baden Powell died and from a fire lit by Daisy Low herself at Camp Macy. This ceremony on Saturday night, will be a truly deep and beautiful reminder of the vast number of campfires in the many places around the world that Girl Scouts and Girl Guides have been singing together, throughout the decades, bringing them all into the present!

And did I mention there will be song workshops and break-out music sessions along with performances throughout the day with special entire camp sing-alongs in the evening?! The songs run the gamut from tried and true Girl Scout's beloved favorites like, Make New Friends, to full -blown Disney sing-alongs!

Songfest Jamboree 2019 community includes 50 experienced musical volunteers (ages 16 to 78) along with 680 attendees, from 13 different states and 17 different Girl Scout councils. The range of ages of the guests attending are 5-year-old Girl Scout Daisies, to GOLDEN EAGLET/GOLD AWARD Girl Scout, Nancy Webb Craddock, 97 years young, in other words, a true "Girl Scout village"!

Fifteen of the volunteers are music professionals and trained song leaders, talented Girl Scout musicians and singers like, Lissa "Flicker” Alfred, Emily “Capo” Munroe, Sue "Birdie" Wilber, Emily “Teddy“ Schlothan, to name just a few, plus there are the up and rising new Girl Scout Song Leader Stars we’ll be hearing more about soon!

Other trained professionals from the volunteer staff, include a former member of the U.S. Marine Band and Kumu Hula, Leilani Jones Wilmore, winner of a Tony Award from Broadway. The songfest even have their own CD entitled Upon This Land and the Songfest Jamboree Songbook. And so the music magic continues onward!

During the course of the 3 days of Songfest Jamboree, over 400 songs will be sung, 15+ different workshops will take place and hundreds of Girl Scout badges will be earned and awarded! The activities slated encourage S.T.E.A.M. and many of those attending will earn science, technology, engineering, (music) art, and math badges along with the singing and music training. As Robyn and Collene will tell you, “they come for the badges and they stay for the singing!”

What a road to get here – a true labor of Love!

The preparation for this event goes well beyond any regular camp you’ve attended before. Their years of singing experience and Girl Scout camp organizing and leading, have helped Robyn and Collene to be well prepared for every detail of this 2nd Annual event. From registration, to arrivals to closing ceremonies, to their list of helpful hints while preparing for the Jamboree, each phase been carefully thought out, planned and timed, but that’s just so they can concentrate on the FUN with everyone else while there!

We hope that the Songfest Jamboree becomes an annual event we can all look forward to attending! And just maybe, Girl Scout Leaders and singing enthusiasts would like to host other regional versions of this grand event, especially knowing they had to turn away 100’s of people at the Songfest Jamboree after registration filled up in 3 weeks. There were many more who would have loved to be there! Robyn and Collene may well be on to something much needed in Girl Scouts....! More Singing Centered events, please!

So much gratitude is going out to Robyn Manzini and Collene Anderson for their mighty Girl Scout vision and production efforts and for keeping the singing flame burning! And of course, our thanks also to all the incredible volunteers supporting their beautiful vision.

The Songfest Jamboree 2019 is a very important event. It is redefining our music and singing culture in Girl Scouts and has moved us far beyond our mother’s Girl Scout Troop! The big evolutionary picture of our singing traditions is thriving at the Songfest Jamboree 2019!