Editor’s note: Update concerning the singing of the national anthem at the GFI.
Melissa “Missy” Faulkner was crowned Grand Forks’ Best Singer for 2012 at the Grand Forks Secondary School auditorium on Aug. 28.
Accompanied by Joel Northcott on guitar, Missy Faulkner drew loud cheers from the crowd after her rendition of Aerosmith’s I don’t want to miss a thing.
Runner up was Wendy Faulkner (Missy’s sister), while Gary Smith placed third.
In its second year, the Grand Forks’ Best Singer contest kicks off another season for Kootenay’s Best Singer, where talented people around the Kootenays participate against singers in their city for a chance to compete in the finals, which take place at a later date.
“It was good and I was relaxed,” Missy Faulkner said. “Me and Joel chose the songs together.”
As the winner of the contest, Missy had the honor of signing the national anthems of Canada and the United States for the opening ceremony of the Grand Forks International (GFI) baseball tournament tomorrow evening but had to go out of town and will be replaced by Wendy Faulkner.
Faulkner will be heading to Red Deer, Alta. for school in September, but plans to return to sing in the finals.
This year’s competition saw a smaller crowd, with only 10 participants due to the summer season and busy schedules creator and producer Vern Gorham noted.
“I thought if we tied it in to GFI it might be a really nice tie-in but I don’t think it worked out as well as I hoped,” he said. “During the summertime, we just had 10 singers come in and a lot of the singers who wanted to sing weren’t around or had booked this week for vacation.”
Nevertheless, Gorham pointed out that the second year has gone much more smoothly than the inaugural year.
“The first year you’re trying to establish credibility and no one knows who you are,” he said. “This year, all my sponsors were on board immediately because they had such a good time the first time.”
He added, “I had another sponsor come up to me and tell me he’d love to outfit all my singers next year. Sponsorships are the lifeblood of this and it was certainly made much easier the second time around.”
Gorham is looking forward to the rest of the competition and to see the hidden talents around the Kootenay region.
In the contest, a total of 10 points can be awarded: eight points are given for singing talent, one point to stage presence and the last for crowd reaction.
Third place received $50, second $100 and first $200, an opportunity to sing live on Mountain FM and a shot at being Kootenay’s best singer.
Gorham noted that following Grand Forks, the contest would continue to Castlegar, Trail and Nelson before Christmas.
“After that, it will be in the east Kootenay’s after Christmas,” he added. “Kootenay’s Best Singer will take place sometime in June.”
