The musical star-maker event of the summer is now taking applications.
Limelight Quest is the annual singing competition that finishes with a flourish at the B.C. Northern Exhibition.
It has sparked so many local music careers that one of this year's anticipated features is an alumni concert and it was also the genesis of a new band.
The competition's founder, local musician Dawn Boudreau, said this year's edition really shows the musical growth and community acceptance of the event.
"We have a team this year," she said. It had always been a mostly solitary effort until this point.
"Erika Callewaert is our production assistant, Michael Kast is a photographer and a young man just moving to P.G., Kieran Ball is our sound technician. This is the first year we have had more than just volunteers and I am enjoying getting more of the community involved in this way."
Registration opened this week and there were already five registrants in the first 48 hours, four of them with no prior Limelight Quest experience. There is no age limit to enter and no auditions necessary. The number of participants is capped at 40.
"Our prize packages are much the same as in previous years, but we have a new sponsor, Matthew's Make Music Fund (Lisa and Doug Denluck) who have donated a whole schwack to our prize packages, including video recording," said Boudreau.
"We also have a new cash sponsor, Benchmark Automotive, who has enabled us to have a hired sound tech. This eliminates the need for me doing it, which is great because that's not my forte and enables me to focus on hosting and on making the contestants feel secure."
The preliminary rounds are done in small-group heats. All these initial showcases will take place at the Cowboy Ranch nightly between Aug. 7-10. The semi-finals happen on the same stage on Aug. 13-14. That will determine the finalists who will throw down their best work at the grand finale on Aug. 18 on a much bigger stage.
"The BCNE is our finals host again, which was so great last year," Boudreau said. "The finalists had a blast with the photo shoot they did around the fair grounds and being a part of the BCNE enhanced the experience for everyone involved."
The winner last year turned out to be Sean Robinson, with Caitriona Hogan as runner up. Vanessa Wittstruck took the title in 2015, followed by Dan Johnson.
The trophy went to Jessey Dacosta in 2014 with second place going to Dallas Cote. The winner in 2013 was David Baycroft, preceded by Chazz Amos in 2012 and Sheena Muir in 2011.
Some of those winners and perhaps some of the notable finalists will gather for a special one-night-only group concert event. That unique event happens at Shiraz Restaurant on July 13, with special guest band Green Penny Folks.
This band is a trio of Vancouver-based musicians with Boudreau on that roster.
"Mike W.T. Allen adds a distinctively powerful voice to the music with his instinctual sax and flute playing, and Katheryn Petersen adds romance and intrigue with her accordion," Boudreau said. The band name pays tribute to Boudreau's musical upbringing in the rural hamlet near Prince George, a place she calls "the mystical community of Penny in the green mountains of northern BC. My love of music and folk roots are all Penny. I had to reference it."
Green Penny Folks is descibed by Boudreau as a variety act "doing comedic songs, nostalgic songs, covers of folk tunes, or rock we have made into folk."
They will make their Prince George debut on July 12 at Nancy O's, follow up the next night at Shiraz, perform at Cafe Voltaire on July 14, then hit the highway for a Fort St. James gig on July 15 hosted by Pope Mountain Arts.
For more information on prizes, registration, buying T-shirts, music lessons, and other aspects of Limelight Quest 2017, log onto www.limelightquest.com.
