Girl Scout cookies: an important excuse for a party. (And you still can nab some!)

The Press Room’s owner, Lori Klonaris, pushes a cart of Girl Scout cookies into place near the bar during the “Cookie Creations” event there.

The sale of Girl Scout cookies provides 70 percent of the entire budget of the local Girl Scouts of the Southern Appalachians every year. So, you can imagine what a blow it was when the coronavirus forced the organization to shut down its cookie sales a week early on March 16 this year.

According to Lynne Fugate, CEO of the Girl Scout Council of the Southern Appalachians, the group is in the hole to the tune of $1.5 million, thanks to the early close.

“We just couldn’t have girls staffing cookie booths or going door-to-door with the virus going around and being so contagious,” Fugate said. “We really didn’t have any choice.”

But, to try to make up some of the lost revenue, the cookies are still available for purchase, but online only. “We have a digital cookie booth,” Fugate said. “We still have 237,000 boxes of cookies to sell!”

If you order the cookies online, you can either have them shipped to you; have them donated to first responders; or wait until this virus nightmare is over and have a Girl Scout deliver them at that time.

When cookies were still for sale “in real life” and when groups still were allowed to get together, the local Girl Scouts held “Cookie Creations,” a silent auction and buffet at The Press Room to show off some creative ways to use Girl Scout cookies. Executive Chef Anna Bogle put together a buffet featuring five recipes based on various Girl Scout cookie flavors. The dishes were paired with wines, beers and whiskeys, making for a fun evening.

Great music was by the Crawdaddy Jones Trio. Take a peek with the Blue Streak at some fun we had during the good old days when we still could gather! And click here to go online and buy some (more) cookies!

The scene of “Cookie Creations.” I liked the way the food was spaced all over the room, offering great mingling opportunities.

Girl Scout Council of the Southern Appalachians CEO Lynne Fugate, left, with Gretchen Crawley, also of the Girl Scouts, prior to the start of the party.

Elizabeth Kramer was helping folks get checked in. And passing out koozies.

Get a load of these coffee-rubbed cocktail lamb lollipops with chimichurri. They were prepared using the famous Thin Mints Girl Scout cookies!

Wayne and Linda Kramer were enjoying the silent auction.

This Sunsphere ornament was my favorite thing in the silent auction. Darn, I didn’t win it. Should have upped that bid!

These earrings were getting a lot of interest. Probably because they are everyone around here’s favorite color.

Of course, you can’t go wrong with a football signed by UT Head Coach Jeremy Pruitt.

From left, Julia Bentley, Ann Wallace, Sarah Egner, Janine Manning and Angie Kelly.

This savory butternut squash tart with herbs and Gorgonzola had a Trefoil cookie shortbread crust!

From left, Ginny Morrow, Jenny Eversole and Carol Parnell.

Here are Zane and Hallie Duncan. She’s with the Girl Scout Council.

Here’s Zane again with his mother-in-law, Sandy Richards.

Benton’s bacon, Gruyère and Toffee-tastic cheese wafers. (Toffee-tastic is the name of a Girl Scout cookie.)

In addition to heading up the Girl Scout Council, Lynne Fugate also is a Knoxville City Council member. Here she is posing with fellow council member, Janet Testerman.

Liz Lyons was there documenting the festivities for VIP Knoxville magazine.

This one was a little hard to photograph, but it was getting rave reviews. It’s coconut fried rice with soy-glazed flank steak. It contains Samoas, a kind of Girl Scout cookie.

Keri Tibbals, left, with Lyn and Jeff Johnson.

Bill and Ginny Morrow.

Anthony and Lynn Wise.

Indonesian chicken satay skewers with peanut dipping sauce. They included the cookies called Do-Si-Dos.

Bravo to Chef Anna Bogle, left, with Marguerite Hogan of the Girl Scout Council.

Also to these great folks from The Press Room. From left, proprietor Lori Klonaris, Chris Williams and Lindsey Linkens.

Here are the two founding members of Crawdaddy Jones: Stevie Jones, left, and Michael “Crawdaddy” Crawley.

Keyboardist Ben Maney is also a beloved teacher at Community School for the Arts.

I will close with a sample of their fun tunes:

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4 Responses to Girl Scout cookies: an important excuse for a party. (And you still can nab some!)

  1. Sherri Gardner Howell, on April 10th, 2020 at 4:30 pm said:

    Well, I “sacrificed” and ordered another round. Going to be a LOOONG dieting season when this is over…

  2. Cynthia Moxley, on April 10th, 2020 at 4:36 pm said:

    Sherri: You are a good, good person, my friend!

  3. Bill Horton, on April 11th, 2020 at 12:03 pm said:

    Thank you for providing the link for cookie purchases. Springtime would not be complete without a box (or several boxes) of thin mint cookies!

  4. Cynthia Moxley, on April 11th, 2020 at 1:01 pm said:

    Bill: I think you might need some extras this year — all things considered! Look forward to running into you when all this is over.

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