A large group of excited young girls were on hand at the Trinity Lutheran Church on Saturday to serve refreshments to people out enjoying the new spring weather.

The Estevan Girl Guides held their annual Trefoil Tea, providing cake, a light lunch, tea or coffee and some activities for everyone who stopped in.

"This is Girl Guiding's 85th year in Estevan, so we're celebrating that. We are also celebrating one of the first trips that we'll be taking the girls on in a number of years, it's been over 6 years since we've taken the girls on an out of province trip. This year we have 19 girls and 4 adults, and they're spending the first week of July in Banff/Canmore area, and they're going to be doing things like hiking and adventure, that sort of thing," explained Christa Morhart, giving some insight into the aura of anticipation hovering over the young ladies in purple.

She added that the event is held to honor the birthday of Lord and Lady Baden Powell, the founders of Girl Guides. Thought the actual date of celebration is in February, the local group chose April to draw a larger crowd. 

"I've been involved in Guiding in Estevan now for over 6 years, and this is probably one of the best turnouts we've had. This time we're trying something a little new, where we're letting the younger girls serve, so they can take more ownership of it and more independence, and I love watching those little girls ages 5-8 get out there and serve people."

Other than the famous Girl Guide cookies, the Tea is one of the biggest fundraisers for the group, according to Christina Farquar.

"There's lots of planning. We have baking we have to set up, we have to decide who's making the sandwiches, what kind of sandwiches to bring, what day we're going to have it. Making sure that the parents are bringing the baking, we have to decide what we're going to charge," she shared, outlining all the work that goes into the event, and tacking several more onto the list.

It was a full house and the girls were kept on their toes as they carried out their various roles.

The group has 73 active girl members, and 16 active adults in the Estevan area.