NATCHEZ — The Girl Scouts have been pounding the pavement, going door-to-door and business-to-business, and Saturday the result of their work arrived in the form of 26,964 boxes of cookies.

That was a load that would take two and a half hours to unload, Adams County Service Unit Cookie Chair Denise Ford said.

But it’s not an unusual haul, either.

“It’s about the same as recent years,” Ford said.

Since taking over as the cookie chair 15 years ago, Ford said she has seen a growth in volume of sales by approximately 75 percent.

The funds that the cookie sales generate go to local troop activities and projects, but the cookie sales aren’t without reward for the girls.

“They can work for prizes like trips to Washington, D.C., or Houston, places they might not normally get to go,” Ford said.

Funds also go to the Girl Scout Council of Middle Mississippi, where they are used for maintenance of a girl’s camp and financial assistance for some members to participate in Girl Scout activities.

Approximately 175 girls from 10 troops pre-sold the cookies this year, and they will continue to sell them from stands and displays from Feb. 20 to March 5.

“I think the parents like (selling the cookies) more than the children, but overall I think it is a great experience for them,” Ford said.

The cookies have a faithful following among sweets lovers, and even if sales start slow they always pick up.

“By the time the people realize that the cookies are here, I have to make three or four trips to Brookhaven (to get more),” Ford said.

If pre-sales are any indication, this year’s best sellers will be perennial favorites — shortbread and do-si-dos, Ford said.

The scouts will pick up their cookies for distribution today.