This week, we take a look back at 2 appearances some of the Jills were a part of over the summer of 2008. The Taste of Buffalo is an annual event taking place over the 2nd weekend of July right in downtown Buffalo. The largest food festival east of the Mississippi is always busy and, for several years, featured appearances by members of the Buffalo Jills. Normally, they'd be stationed at the 97Rock, 103.3 The Edge, and Buffalo Bills booths but when I made it there on the Saturday of the event in 2008, they were focused on the 97Rock booth in front of City Hall with a few girls walking around the festival.
I generally tried to time my visits to the Taste about midway through the shifts that the girls had but arrived a little later than normal in 2008. When I got there, rookie dancer Shana was winding down the first shift of a double-shift day for her at the Taste. I talked to her for a little bit, with her warning me off one of the food items I had planned to check out. Even though she's originally from the Oakland, CA area, she had been living in Buffalo for a while and had tried out different pizza places for her cram sessions while studying for her college exams.
 |
| Shana next to the 97Rock van |
It wasn't long before we were joined by Liz and Kristin M, who had been walking around the festival a bit, greeting the fans. There was still time left before their shift was done and they posed for some pics with some fans before being relieved by Amanda F.
 |
| Liz and Kristin M by the 97Rock van |
It was kind of shocking for me to see Amanda at this event only because the Taste had typically been an appearance that rookies handled. In her 2nd year on the squad, Amanda volunteered for the Taste since she knew what to expect and she needed to get some more appearances in before the season. Something that's not typically known to the public is that in addition to practices and gamedays, appearances are a big part of what's expected of a Jill and everyone does need to get a minumum number in, with the number higher for Ambassadors than for dancers.
After Amanda showed and Liz and Kristin left, they spent some time with fans by the 97Rock van, posing for pictures and handing out Bills schedules. After a while, and after I got back from sampling some food at the festival, I joined the girls on a walk-around of the festival. Typically when I've joined Jills at appearances and they've walked around the event they're appearing at, I'd walk along nearby, not so close that it prevents any fans from approaching but close enough that I'm readily available to snap a photo or to help them out if they have any issues. It's rare that there are any issues but on this day, there were definitely some photo ops on our walk around.
 |
| Amanda F and Shana with a fan |
See all the pics at
https://buffaloprocheerbuffalojills.shutterfly.com/pictures/12448
The summer of 2008, when I went to camp, there weren't any Jills onhand as the Bills hadn't requested them. The calendar also wasn't yet available as they started getting finished from the printers later each year starting in 2008. Before then, they were almost always available at the start of camp. For most, getting the calendar may be no big deal...they get it when they get it. For me, though, getting it before the start of September was a big deal so I could set up the Jill of The Week schedule.
 |
| Dr Amanda, Jill R, and Liz |
The Eric County Fair is a pretty big deal in WNY and even had the moniker of "America's Fair" for a few years. Myself, I'm not a huge fair fan with the huge crowds. In addition, it's more a family type destination than for single guys such as myself. However, members of the Jills occasionally put in appearances at the Fair and that was my best chance to see some of my girls and get a calendar, which finally became available just prior to the start of the fair. I knew about where the girls would be, at the 97Rock bus but I was still in for a sight when I got there. They had gone up to the roof to enjoy the hot weather the way any beautiful girl would, with some sunbathing. The girls said hi when I got there and the guy from 97Rock taking care of things handed me a calendar while we talked for a bit while the girls got set to come back down.
Besides the calendar featuring 48 of the area's most beautiful young women (the largest squad in many years), the calendar was hot for another reason. 2nd year vet Vincenza was the covergirl and at the risk of appearing to play favorites in any way, I thought this was the hottest Jills calendar cover of all of them.
 |
| Posing with Liz, Jill, and Amanda |
You can see all the pics at
https://buffaloprocheerbuffalojills.shutterfly.com/pictures/8933
From the Bandettes comes a photo from the 2nd game hosting the Toronto Rock, the Jr Bandettes game. Sometimes, there's a few girls who I have a hard time getting on camera while others make it on camera frequently based on where they dance during the game. This is a case where everyone can be happy about someone getting lots of camera time because who doesn't love seeing a smile as bright as Cheri's?
 |
| Cheri smiling for the camera during the 2nd quarter |
