There are eight contestants remaining in the semi-finals of the Wellesley Idol contest.
The singers will get a chance to perform one last time Sept. 11 at 7 p.m. at the Wellesley North Easthope Fall Fair for one of three spots in the finals, which will be held at the Wellesley Apple Butter and Cheese Festival on Sept. 29.
To make it into the semi-finals each contestant had to sing one song a capella and one accompanied. Each semi-finalist will be required to sing one song at the fall fair and those who make it to the next round will sing two songs during the finals.
The eight semi-finalists are Stephanie Sellers from Winterbourne, Taryn Mayer of Baden, Stephanie Ringrose of St. Clements, Sarah Gingerich of New Hamburg, and Regan Schneider, Nikita Metzger, Gavin Tessier and Mackenzie Meldrum of Wellesley.
“This is a great event to showcase our local talent,” said organizer Wendy Richardson. “It’s quite appealing and the music is always great. We always have quite a few contestants vying for the prize money.”
The winner of this year’s competition will receive $500, second place will receive $300, and third place receives $200.
There is also a people’s choice award which will be decided after the semi-finals and voted on by the audience. It comes with a $125 prize and a chance to sing at the ABC Festival.
The judges these year are Gary Goeree of the New Hamburg Community Players, Charlene Zehr, Tavistock, musical performer, Scott Malloch from New Hamburg and former Wellesley ABC Idol winner and Kate Lindner of Gadshill who is former Wellesley Fall Fair ambassador.
Tryouts for the Wellesley Idol Competition were first held back in June at the Wellesley Community Centre, with 15 contestants singing for a spot in the semi-finals. Traditionally judges choose singers to fill the six spots for the semi-finals but that number was increase to eight this year.
