Thousands of Girl Guides in B.C. are celebrating the organizations 100th anniversary with a sleeping bag sleepover in Pacific Coliseum.
They arrived in Vancouver by the busload on Saturday to participate in activities, charity projects and eat a slice of celebratory cake.
"It's like a huge camp, except we're not outside," seven-year-old Rhea David said.
The Guiding movement began in the United Kingdom in 1909 and spread to Canada the following year, spreading two central themes: domestic skills and what the organization calls a "kind of practical feminism."
This feminism has included teaching girls about physical fitness, survival skills, camping, citizenship and career preparation.
About 47,000 current and former Guide members participated in the centennial across Canada on Saturday, with rallies and food bank fundraisers.
But only in B.C. did members get a chance to take part in an 8,000-person sleepover, an event marked by cookies, pins and merit badges -- and free of trouble-making boys.
Long-time Guide volunteer Terri Churchill called it a "memory-making evening."
"This is something they will hold in their hearts forever," she said.
With a report from CTV British Columbia's Norma Reid
