The BCNE's got talent.
Limelight Quest has become one of the annual highlights of the BC Northern Exhibition. The singing competition has been holding preliminary elimination rounds through July, leading up to tonight's finals.
The prelims took place at the Cowboy Ranch but tonight's big showdown happens on the BCNE mainstage with eight voices vying for the grand prize.
The eight finalists are Arilynne Barks, Eva Gobbi, Katie Hogan, Grace Hoksbergen, Noah Jeans, Mesa Passey, Camille Pelletier, and Jasmine Tran.
"Our eight finalists are all amazing. Some of them have won a placement in previous years or even been in the finals. This is what I love to see," said Dawn Boudreau, founder of the competition.
"Limelight Quest gives these singers something to work towards each summer. We see them grow each year as they return."
These eight will do a group number and also each sing as individuals, with the audience picking the winners via a point system on ballots. You have to be there in the audience in person in order to vote.
Boudreau said this was part of the learning process - working a crowd, dealing with the reaction of the audience and trying to lobby your own supporters to attend.
"You need to be able to get fans to make it as a musician, so for some of our contestants this is where they learn how to market their music," Boudreau said.
"Once the votes are in, we'll have Dan Johnson, our amazing second place winner from 2015, to entertain the audience while our team tallies the votes."
There are professional development packages for the first, second, third and fourth place winners. The singer voted No. 1 will also get their own showcase concert at the BCNE on Sunday at 10:30 a.m.
"The most important part of being a musician is that you keep on doing it, and I love seeing how many of our contestants do," said Boudreau, listing off a number of past winners and finalists who are mainstays on the local music scene, some of whom are making it at least part of their professional life.
"Education and community are the best aspects of the Limelight Quest Competition," said Boudreau.
"The finalists have been writing and rehearsing the group number and our hope is that this process has helped them form friendships and bonds that they can draw on later to help one another on their music journey. We like to think that if a contestant has made a friend, connected with another musician, or learned something about themselves or the music industry, they have already won."
Boudreau was helped in the organizing of Limelight Quest by assistant director Erika Callewaert and Jillane Buryn.
"They are a dynamo team," she said.
The Limelight Quest finals happen tonight at the BCNE at 7:30 p.m. It is just one of many featured components that comprise the annual fall fair.
