Lacombe’s Got Talent wrapped up its first show since 2013 over the weekend. The finale featured six different artists who performed for judges, Sunday night.
Talents ranged from an aerial artist, tap dancing, freehand painting, a violinist and two different singers. The judges chose five of the acts and the sixth was chosen by the public as the People’s Choice award recipient.
With just less than 30,000 ballots cast over the course of two days, Sienna Bennett was chosen as the People’s Choice performance.
Bennett performed the song Never Changing Who I Am by Imagine Dragons in front of her family and friends.
Bennett received 49 per cent of the overall votes for People’s Choice.
According to Rosanna Kerekes, Executive Director for Lacombe Performing Arts Centre (LPAC), the People’s Choice element was really well-received with audience members.
“Having it online and having everybody able to watch the amazing talent that’s been recorded is, I think, really beneficial,” said Kerekes.
Organizers hope to continue to have the new voting option in future talent shows because of the interaction it allowed.
The overall winner of the competition was Samuel Thompson who performed an original song while also playing the piano. After his performance, the singer said he tries to make it sound like there are more people performing with him through the use of background tracks.
“I always got kicked out the bands somehow, I was just really bad at practising with other people,” said Thompson. “I was always trying to find a way for it to sound like there was more people than just me.”
Thompson received $500 as part of the first place award while runner-up Holly, who played the violin, was awarded $200.
As part of COVID-19 protocols, the talent show was held in front of a small audience made up of the performer’s cohorts and the judges were sectioned off with Plexiglass barriers.
Kerekes hopes next time the auditorium can be filled with people watching the acts and things won’t have to be so socially distanced so that more people can experience the talent in person.
“It will be great to have everybody together to celebrate and watch the talents together rather than one performer at a time,” said Kerekes.
The finale was released at noon on Oct. 26 and will remain on the LPAC’s website for the next two weeks.