Dr. Paul Carlson Park was bustling like the United Nations on Sunday, Nov. 7, when Culver City Girl Scouts gathered for their annual World Friendship Day. Countries from all over the world were represented as 21 troops ranging in age from 5 (Daisy level) to 18 (Ambassador level) shared samples of cooking, handicrafts and the performing arts from their chosen countries.

The day started with the Parade of Nations. Each troop came garbed in handmade costumes, carrying their national flags. The next event was a food festival at which Girl Scout families and community members eagerly gobbled portions of traditional main dishes and desserts. The menu featured mango chicken from Malawi, Canadian butter tarts, spaghetti with chickpeas and rice-stuffed grape leaves from Greece, Irish soda bread and mashed potatoes, Polish sausage and cabbage, Italian panna cotta and empanadas from Uruguay.

The troops entertained their guests with three-minute performances of songs, skits and dances, such as the Jamaican dollar dance performed by a Junior troop, a mustachioed Daisy troop singing and rowing a Venetian gondola and a pageant of women from Greek mythology.

Girl Scouts of the USA (GSUSA) is one of 140 scouting organizations that make up the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts. The founder of GSUSA, Juliette Gordon Low, envisioned promoting international cooperation through Girl Scouting.