Looking Pretty for the Camera

Beautiful young women clad in black bikinis stood on the wing of a World War II-era plane, squinting into the hot, Florida sun. It’s that time of year again: The New Orleans Saints cheering squad, the Saintsations, is in town for its 2007 calendar shoot.

Seventeen of the 32 members of the Saintsations are here, posing for 14 photos for the calendar: one for each month, one for the cover and one for back page. They’ll be in the area until Thursday, making appearances at local venues such as AJ’s, Beach Bums, The Swamp, the Village of Baytowne Wharf, the football field at Choctawhatchee High School, on the Solaris yacht, at Jet Ultra Lounge, at Fudpuckers, Eglin Air Force Base and Hurlburt Field, and on the beach.

Late Monday afternoon, they were at the Destin Airport. From 6-10 this morning, they’re scheduled to be at Big Kahuna’s. Lesslee Fitzmorris, president of American All-Star, the company that manages the squad, said the team comes to Destin for its photo shoots because it provides great settings for a swimsuit calendar.

“What do you need to shoot a bikini calendar? Beaches, sands, palm trees and beautiful girls. Destin has all of those things,” Fitzmorris said. This is the third time she and the cheerleaders have made their calendar in Destin. The squad had offers to shoot in places such as Mexico and the Bahamas but opted for the Destin area because of the venues and ties between New Orleans and Destin.

“New Orleans feels a strong attraction to Destin,” Fitzmorris said. “There are a lot of Saints fans around here.” The cheerleaders are being filmed by Sun Sports and NFL Networks for shows that will chronicle the “Making of the Saintsations.”

One of the cheerleaders present at the shoot was 2000 Fort Walton Beach High School graduate Ashley Bowman, who was very excited to be shooting near her hometown and said Destin seemed like a logical choice for the calendar because “we have everything here.”

For more info on the Saintsations, visit the New Orleans Saints Web site at www.neworleanssaints.com.

Published on Friday, May 26, 2006