The hills are alive with the boisterous conviviality of the Pioneer Valley Bills Backers.
As the only registered group between Albany, New York and Boston, this chapter of the Buffalo Bills Backers fosters a sense of community among western New York expatriates, Bills converts and married-into members of the loyal fanbase, or “Bills Mafia,” who’ve come to find connection and friendship in the joy — and at times, suffering — of Buffalo Bills football.
Members of the local chapter recently gathered at their headquarters at the Conway Inn to watch the Pittsburgh Steelers vs. Buffalo Bills game at Acrisure Stadium in Pittsburgh. That Sunday, Nov. 30, Pioneer Valley Bills Backers founders and husband and wife Kelley Jewell and Samuel Guerin shared the origin story for this group as they greeted members steadily streaming in through the door.
Guerin, a Buffalo native, and Jewell, a Shelburne Falls native, moved back to the area in the fall of 2020 from Richmond, Virginia, where they had been part of another Buffalo Bills Backers chapter. Across the world, more than 600 bars and restaurants are registered as Bills Backers chapters, where fans can gather to watch games and socialize.
Besides the Valley chapter, there are only two other registered Bills Backers chapters in Massachusetts: Bills Backers of South Shore at the Gillis Family Tavern in Plymouth and the Bills Backers of Fenway Bleachers Bar in downtown Boston.
Guerin said that when he and Jewell arrived in back in western Massachusetts, the two were eager to create a similar community of Bills fans in the Valley that they had while living in Virginia. It was only by chance that the Conway Inn became the epicenter of this vision.
“We came in here just because some friends invited us, and then Sam saw a [cereal] box of ‘Flutie Flakes’ hanging out in the corner of the bar,” Jewell said about their first visit to the Conway Inn in 2021.
Guerin asked bar owner Barbara Llamas, about her cereal box that paid homage to former Bills quarterback Doug Flutie, who played three seasons with the team, from 1998 to 2001.
“Once we asked her about the ‘Flutie Flakes,’ she expressed that she had been a secret Bills fan in [New England Patriots] territory. We just made fast friends, and we started coming here because she would put the game on over a Pats game,” Jewell said.
Before registering as an official Bills Backers chapter earlier this year, Guerin and Jewell started to “grow the cult” at the Conway Inn on an informal basis, Guerin joked. This season, Llamas gave her blessing to become a registered Bills Backers chapter, meaning anyone who looks at the official map online can see the Conway Inn as a Bills Backers bar, and can join the festivities. The group had a kick-off party at the start of the season to celebrate with a viewing of the Netflix show “Four Falls of Buffalo” detailing the four consecutive Super Bowl losses the Bills faced in the 1990s.
“So if we had any new fans coming, they could be baptized in the sadness that we all need to hold in our hearts as Bills fans,” Jewell said about the show.
While Jewell acknowledged her statement was facetious, she said the sadness in the hearts of Bills fans is a very real thing, with the chapter experiencing some of the recent heartbreaking playoff losses together. For Guerin, he says he tends to remember the losses more than the games where the Bills blow out their opponents.
However, the night of Nov. 30, spirits were high, with a hope for redemption. The kitchen served an iconic food staple in Bills culture: Buffalo chicken wings. According to the National Chicken Council, the chicken wing originated in Buffalo in the 1960s. The wings were complemented by blue-and-red (Bills’ colors) Jell-o shots, which used in a half-time toast after the half-time raffle.
Llamas, who grew up in Buffalo, said she has been a fan of the Bills since she was young. She came to own the Conway Inn in 1986, keeping her Bills pride quiet with only a few keepsakes displayed around the bar. Nowadays, she said people continue to bring her Bills memorabilia, including a new set of string lights hung above the bar. And for those who root for the Boston-based teams, the Conway Inn has some New England Patriots and Red Sox items displayed on the walls as well.
“People say, ‘Oh yeah, we know we’re for the Bills too,'” Llamas said when asked about people reacting to the famous navy blue, white and red Bills decor. “There’s a lot more people than I thought in the area.”
As the official Valley chapter bar, Llamas has adopted a tradition to showcase its love for her home team.
“One of the greatest highs of being at a game here is that whenever the Bills score a touchdown, Barb has a very important duty … she brings out her siren and she she blares it in here and she (also) takes it outside into the street and lets all the neighbors know (we) made a touchdown,” Jewell said.
Another tradition adopted by the chapter is the raising of a Bills flag the morning of gameday by Adam Reed, which has become a lucky charm for the group.
Guerin said some people who come to watch the games with the chapter aren’t committed to one team. However, he said there is always a swag bag of Bills gear on hand for those who want to join in on the revelry.
To Llamas and other chapter members, there’s no shame or hesitancy in being a Bills fan in a largely Patriots fanbase.
“I’ve never felt shame for it in my life,” Reed quipped, while the fans at the bar laughed, saying earlier how he doesn’t think the chapter members would be inclined to spend time together if it weren’t for the Bills.
Jeff Lacy is a Patriots fan first, but also roots for the Bills. He and his partner came into the Conway Inn on that Nov. 30 evening, not expecting to see the group of Bills Backers, but came in as this is their neighborhood bar.
Lacy, who was born in Medina, New York, with die-hard Bills fans in his family in Rochester, New York, said he thought the gathering of the fans that night was good to see.
“I don’t go around picking fights or anything, because Buffalo is our second team,” he said. “The Pats are our team, but we, in most recent years, when the Pats haven’t done that well, we’ve glommed on to the Bills, especially since our little tavern is a Bills tavern.”
While the competition between the two teams is strong this season, Lacy says it’s his opinion that inside the Conway Inn, there is a “coexistence” between the two factions. When asked about his thoughts on the show of force for the Bills that night, his answer was simple.
“It’s Massachusetts. We accept everything,” he said.
Maintaining connection to home
With the outgoing home of the Buffalo Bills at Highmark Stadium in Orchard Park, New York, approximately 400 miles from Conway, the Pioneer Valley Bill Backers members say their community offers a way for them to stay connected to home or to a team they love.
Bill Livermore, a Shelburne Falls resident who grew up in central New York, is one such fan. He said he’s been to Bills Backers chapters in places like Tokyo, Japan, San Francisco and Chicago, but makes his way back to the Conway Inn whenever he’s able.
“Part of being a Bills fan is knowing you can go any place and find other Bills fans and connect,” he said. “There’s just so much camaraderie. It doesn’t matter where you are, whether Tokyo or Phoenix or Tampa Bay, it’s the same.”
Guerin said that this fondness for the team and Buffalo has only grown stronger as the team has struggled. Last year, he said it was easier to bring people to the Bills while sitting at the top of the AFC, whereas now, its a matter of holding on to the converts to the team.
In her eyes, Jewell says that a tough season has meant growing even closer to fellow fans.
“It feels more like a community now, so even though it’s been kind of a tough season, it’s always great to be able to see our friends and root and cry together,” she said.
“I think distance makes the heart grow fonder,” Guerin said, “even when they’re sucking.”
To keep up to date with the Pioneer Valley Bills Backers events, visit their Facebook page https://tinyurl.com/2vy44mwf.