The smell of popcorn and cotton candy filled the air Sunday afternoon at Kappa Delta sorority’s second annual International Girl’s Day Confidence Carnival.

KD invited area Girl Scout troops but welcomed all Warren County and Bowling Green elementary age girls to attend. Carnival attractions included a petting zoo, balloon animals, face painting, carnival games, and carnival food such as popcorn and cotton candy, and were all free.

Last year’s event was hosted in the KD conference room and involved crafts and talks about issues such as health and bullying, said Louisville senior Lindsay O’Neil.

“We wanted to go bigger this year and do something fun for International Girl’s Day,” said Nashville sophomore and KD’s vice president of public relations Katie DePriest. “We had a really big budget for this event, so we really went over the top.”

KD came together with the Confidence Coalition to create a day dedicated to promoting self-confidence in girls and celebrating friendships among girls, according to the Kappa Delta official news release about the event.

Jennifer Rosser of Bowling Green, who brought her daughter Meredith Rosser, also of Bowling Green, to the event with Meredith’s Daisy troop, said she thought the event was “definitely worth coming.”

“I think the Kappa Delta’s are doing great with this event,” Rosser said. “It helps us teach the [Daisy] girls about community service because we can say, ‘Remember when we went to the Kappa Delta carnival?’ We hope they do this again next year.”

Tabitha Binder, a London sophomore and KD member, said she really enjoyed helping out at the event because it’s “neat to see the girls having fun and getting out in the community.”

Binder was a Girl Scout for five years when she was in elementary school and said she would’ve loved to participate in an event like the Confidence Carnival.

Rosser said the Daisy troops really focus on teaching their girls self-confidence and “getting in front of people.” This skill was put into good use during the event when a group of Girl Scouts and KDs got on the porch of the KD’s house and danced while the rest of the girls cheered them on.

“Today is just about having fun and celebrating what it means to be a girl,” said Lexington junior Erica Sturgill, Kappa Delta’s vice president of community service.