Local Cheerleaders March In Macy's Thanksgiving Parade

After winning a competition last year to be part of the 2009 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, cheerleaders from Lake Shore Central High School returned home triumphant on Friday.

Even though the Lake Shore girls were among 700 cheerleaders in the parade, they were somewhat exclusive according to their coach Michelle Bress.

'It's extremely unusual for a whole team to be invited down, in fact we were the only group with 18 girls," Bress told 2 On Your Side. "Everyone else from across the country had one or two girls. In fact we found out there was only nine other girls from New York State there, and nobody else from Western New York," Coach Bress said.

Bress also stated that to her knowledge Lake Shore is only the second cheerleading squad from Western New York to have ever appeared in the parade.

The girls worked for an entire year to raise the money they needed to make the 6-day trip. Much of their fundraising was done through the sale of some 18,000 candy bars.

During their time in New York City the girls spent several hours practicing the routine they and hundreds of other cheerleaders from throughout the nation would put on before a national television audience and tens of thousands of spectattors who lined the parade route.

Caitlin Brodfuehrer, a senior on the squad, described the moment when the event finally started with the cheerleaders leading the parade.

"It was really nerve-wracking. We all worked hard up until that moment and we were just like, ...it's our time to shine."

That is not to say the trip was all work and no play.

"We went to see West Side Story, the Rockettes, and bunch of other things," Brodfuehrer recalled.

Senior squad member Ashley Burke summarized the feeling of many of her teammates when she told WGRZ-TV, "it was a once in a lifetime opportunity."

And that wasn't just a feeling among the cheerleaders.

"Speaking for the parents and coaches I can tell you that every time we saw them we just cried. We were so proud to see them marching down the street, ...it was just great," Bress said.