You don’t have to turn on the TV to see who’s got talent in Westerville. There’s plenty of it, and it’ll be on display in November.
This year marks the fifth annual Westerville’s Got Talent show, scheduled for Nov. 22 at Westerville Central High School.
The show, organized by the Westerville Lions Club, was started by its Leos Club – a high school club for aspiring Lions – in February 2010. It opened to a standing-room-only audience at the American Legion Young-Budd Post 171 and raised $1,000, which was donated to the Haiti earthquake relief efforts.
After two years, the Lions Club took over and has since been working to expand the show’s scope. Event chairman Donald Niebling hopes this year’s show will have the best talent yet.
Open auditions took place in October.
Competitors vie for $100 first prizes in three categories – singing, dancing and unique acts – and a $500 grand prize.
dancing and unique acts – and a $500 grand prize.
Past winners have included singer and dancer Jimmy McKrimson, musical duo Emma Best and Conner Poulin, dancer Chanel Stone and “concert chopsticks” performer T.C. Kincer, who later auditioned the act for America’s Got Talent.
Kincer, an Otterbein University graduate, will return this year acting as one of the judges on the panel.
Though audience applause was the previous metric by which winners were determined, a different approach will be taken this year.
“Now we’re going with the technical expertise from the judges,” Niebling says.
All proceeds for the 2014 show will go to Lions Club philanthropic projects, which include blindness prevention, pilot dogs and the college scholarships.
Kyle Banfill is a contributing writer. Feedback welcome at tdufresne@cityscenemediagroup.com.
