Pics from the 29th Annual Strawberry Festival

Each year, Merritt Estate Winery in Forestville, NY hosts an annual Strawberry Festival which not only gives a boost to their business, but more importantly, raises a lot of money for a local charity. This year's charity is the Ruben Brown Foundation, a charity that was set up by former Bills All-Pro G Ruben Brown to benefit various charities and community organizations that focus on the development of youth through athletics as well as cultural and educational programs and a big emphasis on the Salvation Army.

The Winery recently became an official sponsor of the Buffalo Jills and even created a special edition Buffalo Jills wine that recently became available to the public. With this sponsorship, a number of the Jills are on hand this weekend at the Festival to pose for photos and sign autographs for the fans as well as a few extra surprises. There's a dunk tank set up at the Festival and rookie dancer Gabrielle consented to be the dunkee for a little while and got dunked quite a few times for her trouble. With the temperature in the high 60s, it couldn't have been the most comfortable experience but Gabby pulled it off with smiles. Also, one of the items that were auctioned off in the evening of the first day of the festival was a 4-pack of tickets to the 7th Annual Buffalo Jills Golf Tournament with a limo ride as part of the package. Jill and Kelly Ann joined Ruben Brown, Jickster, and the auctioneer onstage as that item went up for bid.

http://s15.photobucket.com/albums/a375/buffalojills2005/2009/Strawberry%20Festival/

The Festival continues all day Sunday so if you missed it on Saturday, make sure to show up Sunday to meet Ruben, the Jills, and Lydia from CW23 as well as pick up a bottle of Buffalo Jills wine.

Coming up next for the Jills, we can expect to see many of them each afternoon of the Taste of Buffalo which takes place in Niagara Square in downtown Buffalo the weekend of July 11th and 12th. Get more details about the region's biggest festival at http://www.tasteofbuffalo.com/

Also, there are still a lot of tickets available for the 7th Annual Buffalo Jills Golf Tournament. This event is being held, once again, at Fox Valley Country Club in Lancaster, NY and the $125 ticket covers 18 holes of golf, use of golf carts, lunch, dinner, and a thrilling dance routine put on by members of the Buffalo Jills. What better way to spend a day off than on the golf course with 44 of the most beautiful women in the WNY area? Get more details at http://buffalojills.net/appearances/details.php?recordID=9

The Jr. Jills program is just about to kick off with uniform fittings on June 16th and 18th for young ladies ages 7-17. The mandatory workshops take place the last 2 weekends in July in which the Jr Jills get to learn from the pros and the top choreographer in the industry in Jills choreographer Kelli Wagner. Get more details at http://buffalojills.net/appearances/details.php?recordID=23 and download an application at http://buffalojills.net/images/documents/jr%20jills%20app2009.pdf

Finally, Cheer Elite Camp 2009 takes place for all young ladies interested in learning from the pros the week of July 19th-23rd at Niagara County Community College. The Jills will be on hand to teach this camp in areas like tumbling, dance, stunting, performance, and etiquette training to help young ladies ages 8-18. You can get full details at http://www.niagaracc.suny.edu/pdf/Cheer.pdf or by calling Amanda Pucci, 716-614-6259 for more info! Full payment is due by July 1st!

Buffalo Jill of The Week Keisha

This week, we take a look at one of the Jills' new co-captains as our Jill of The Week. After 2 seasons on the squad, Keisha is stepping into the role as Ambassador Squad co-captain for 2009 and she's already shown a willingness to go the extra distance to help out her squadmates. When 1 of her squadmates took ill and had to miss an appearance at a Rhino's Away Game Party last season, Keisha showed up to give Omarlla some support and when Jess made the Pro Bowl after this past season, Keisha and Anna joined her in Hawaii to lend their support. Going the extra distance is one of the marks of a good leader. There's also the fact that, in a group of very outgoing young women, she still stands out as one of the most outgoing. One of the requirements for being a Jill is having good conversational skills, especially in the case of the Ambassadors. Keisha can not only carry on a conversation, but is pretty good at starting them as well. You can read more about Keisha at http://buffalojills.net/bios/Keisha.html and don't forget to check out her 97Rock photo album at http://www.97rock.com/Article.asp?id=1028236&spid=21992

Making the Squad - 1st Day Prep

CW23's Lydia was on hand for Jills tryouts and was hard at work filming and has a series of 6 webisodes that you can see on CW23's website. In this 1st webisode, the women get prepped for their first day of tryouts. This one was filmed at the 1st pre-audition workshop and includes interviews with Steph, Kelli, Vincenza and Liz. Check it out at http://www.cw23.com/dpp/cw23_girl/wildcard_08/making_the_squad_1

Stay tuned to CW23 at http://www.cw23.com/subindex/cw23_girl/wildcard_08 for future webisodes from the series.

Also, don't forget that Merritt Estate Winery is holding their 29th annual Strawberry Festival this weekend and the Buffalo Convention Center is playing host to the 2nd Annual Buffalo's Biggest 80s Bash! Both events include appearances by members of the Buffalo Jills!!

Pics from the Jills Cruise at 97Rock

A couple weeks ago, a large portion of the members of the 2009 Buffalo Jills went on a cruise from Key West, Florida to Nassau in the Bahamas and back to shoot their 2009-2010 Swimsuit Calendar. A lot of the girls took along cameras and sent some of their pictures for 97Rock to show off which you can find at http://www.97rock.com/Article.asp?id=1353824 The Calendar is expected to be ready in late July or early August and in addition to the photos taken on the cruise, Fisher Creative Image Photography will be taking more in the next month or so in the Western NY area of the girls who weren't able to go on the cruise.

There are a number of times left to meet the 2009 squad before they take the field at Ralph Wilson Stadium this August.

First up is the Strawberry Festival at Merritt Estate Winery next weekend. The Winery is one of the official sponsors of the Buffalo Jills and the Festival, the 29th Annual, will be raising money for the Ruben Brown Foundation. Check out all the details at http://www.merrittestatewinery.com/page/53/calendar.aspx

Buffalo's Biggest 80s Bash also takes place next weekend as some of the Jills will be in attendance at the Buffalo Convention Center Saturday night to put on an 80s Style Dance Performance. Check out all the details and get tickets at http://www.80sbash.com/

The Taste Of Buffalo is coming up July 11th and 12th and in addition to trying out the different foods and listening to several local bands, it's also your chance to meet several of the 2009 Jills as they'll be mingling through the crowd and handing out Bills schedules during both afternoons of the event. More details on the event at http://www.tasteofbuffalo.com/

The biggest thing happening before the Jills join the rest of the Bills faithful in Canton for the Hall of Fame game will be the 7th Annual Buffalo Jills Golf Tournament. Tickets are $125 apiece for the July 20th event to be held at Fox Valley Country Club in Lancaster, NY. Get more details on the event at http://buffalojills.net/appearances/details.php?recordID=9 You can order tickets through that link as well as from any of the Buffalo Jills at some of their other appearances before then.

Buffalo Jill of The Week Omarlla

After a few weeks looking at girls who left the squad early, it's time to look at someone who's done everything except that. Omarlla is now going into her 10th season on the squad and shows no signs of slowing down. If anything, "O" is speeding up as she seems to get better every year. You'd think that after making the Pro Bowl following the 2003 season, there'd be nothing left to accomplish but she savors every new experience she gets on the squad and with new squadmates every year as well as new players to cheer for, there's a lot that changes every year. Through her time on the squad, she's learned a lot, like how to swim thanks to her NFL Cheerleader Playoffs partner Aimee, and learned a lot about herself. She's regarded as a strong leader by her squadmates and isn't an in-your-face type of leader. Her less experienced squadmates realize that it takes a lot to remain in the pro cheerleading ranks for 10 years and her accomplishments have earned her a lot of respect and love from squadmates and fans alike. We can only hope she keeps at it for many more years and she and Eileen (and the rest of the squad) finally get a chance to cheer in the playoffs this year after the additions the Bills have made this offseason. You can read more about Omarlla at http://www.buffalojills.net/bios/Omarlia.html and don't forget to check out her 97Rock photo album at http://www.97rock.com/Article.asp?id=888826