General News » Headline News » News

Just Sing auditions get underway at Gibson Centre

May 5, 2022   ·   0 Comments

The Just Sing competition, hosted by the Alliston Potato Festival, got underway on Wednesday, April 27, with the first round of auditions taking place at the Gibson Cultural Centre in Alliston.

This is a new competition for the festival which showcases young talent between the ages of 9 and 14.

As the auditions take place, a panel of judges will select 15 finalists who will then go through an elimination round.

Of those 15, four will be chosen to be finalists and will perform live on stage at the Potato Festival in August.

One of those four will be crowned the winner of the competition.

The first audition showcased the talent of seven local singers who performed a variety of tunes in the Gibson Centre’s performance hall.

“Tonight is our first actual performance,” explained organizer and Alliston Potato Festival executive director Beth Wink. “The singers can choose whichever song they want to perform and they sing with a sound backdrop. In future performances there will be themes. There will be a country song edition on May 8. For the final, there will be a semi-final round on the Saturday of the Potato Festival with the final taking place on stage on the Sunday.”

The first audition was adjudicated by Lorne Derraugh, a well-known local musician and band conductor.

Mr. Derraugh gave each performer some tips and encouragement after each performance.

Seven girls took part in the first audition, each bringing their own style and choice of song to the performance.

They performed together for the first song to give them a chance to enjoy being on stage before starting their solo performances.

Ms. Wink said that after two years of having no Potato Festival, they wanted to try something new this year to refresh the Festival line-up and get more people in involved.

This summer the Potato Festival will take place from August 5 to 7, with the young performers going on stage the final day.

By Brian Lockhart

Readers Comments (0)