Samuel and Elizabeth Mittge are in the 10 to 14 age bracket. Their talent is "piano and melodica duet."
Sterling Carper is in the 10 to 14 age bracket. His talent is "yo-yo freestyle."
Music Chemistry with Avalynn, Timothy and Christopher McKnight is in the 10 to 14 age bracket. Their talent is "band."
Molleigh Fulleton is in the 15 to high school senior age bracket. Her talent is "vocal."
Judah Holland is in the up to 9 age bracket. His talent is "fiddle."
Lillian Holland is in the 10 to 14 age bracket. Her talent is "fiddle."
Kaitlynn Mitchell is in the 15 to senior in high school age bracket. Her talent is "vocal."
The Molly Goss Band with Molly Goss, Justin Schwiesow, Taylor Gonia and Matthew Avery is in the 15 to senior in high school age bracket. Their talent is "vocal and instruments."
Simon Stehr is in the 15 to senior in high school age bracket. His talent is "piano."
Jacob Wegener is in the 15 to senior in high school age bracket. His talent is "vocal."
Ethan Klovdahl is in the 10 to 14 age bracket. His talent is "comedy monologue."
Kiera Clark is in the 15 to senior in high school age bracket. Her talent is "vocal."
The 2018 Lewis County Youth Talent Show is back again this weekend with performances from local talent.
The event benefits the Centralia-Chehalis Kiwanis Clubs, Soroptimist Club and Historic Fox Theatre Restorations, which evenly split profits from the event.
“These kids are just so brave,” said Scott White, president of Historic Fox Theatre Restorations. “They just walk right up there and I’m sure they are nervous and scared, but their music comes on and the light comes on and they give these incredible performances.”
The money for Historic Fox Theatre Restorations goes toward the general restoration project. The money for Kiwanis also goes toward general projects. Kiwanis provides students at Centralia High School, W.F. West High School and Centralia College with scholarships. It sponsors numerous community youth organizations.
The Soroptimist Club uses the money to support their “Dare to Dream” activity. The Centralia-Chehalis chapter holds the event twice a year, once in Mossyrock and once in Boistfort.
Doris Wood, who is on the executive board and a past president, said the organization tries to get girls from both sides of I-5. The event gives girls 6th through 8th grade a full-day experience of various positive thinking activities. The group talks about bullying, does crafts, explores career opportunities and talks about safety on social media. The Soroptimists bring in freshmen women in high school and college to talk to the girls about experiences they went through, and things the younger girls may experience.
The money also goes toward the Live Your Dream Award that the group gives to one woman every year who is the single provider for her family. This person uses the $1,000 award to go back to college or get some sort of advanced training.
“The talent show is always amazingly good fun and it’s always just so exciting to hear some of the things our local kiddos can do,” Wood said.
Bob Holland, a long-time member of the Kiwanis Club, was in charge of obtaining sponsors for the event.
“We have the various age brackets,” Holland said. “The little guys are cute. Some are less proficient than others in what they’re trying, but at least they’re trying. The parents and friends come, so it’s not hard for a business to endorse through their sponsorship.”
There are three different age groups performing in the talent show — under 9, 10-14 and 15-senior in high school. There are first, second and third place prizes for each category. The first place prize is $250, second place is $100 and third place is $50.
“The talent really ranges from lots of vocal performances and piano, piano with vocals,” White said. “We have some interesting things, somebody doing a monologue, a yoyo trick routine.”
Holland said there are about 35 sponsors for the event and $6,000 from sponsorship money. He expects a couple thousand more from ticket sales.
“I think just the thought that young people with relatively untried talent who are going to be brave and step up to audition, and through the audition they get constructive criticism and they are learning to present themselves in public (is my favorite part of the event),” Holland said.
Holland’s granddaughter won first in her age bracket last year. This year, she is moving up an age bracket to the 10-14 category.
“Several of my grandchildren are performing this year, which was not a plan, but just kind of how it turned out,” Holland said.
Forty acts auditioned for this show, but only the 22 finalists will perform. White, former Miss Lewis County Kennedy Woods and Tucker Voetberg judged the auditions. The judges for Saturday’s show are Annie Voetberg, Candace Ash, Jerry Owens and Cameron Beierle.
“These are all people who are very important in the entertainment industry,” White said.
When asked what may surprise the audience about the show, White said, “the quality of the show, the quality of the acts. Yes, there are some younger kids that are really cute and some acts that are really cute, but I think the sheer amount of talent.”
The event starts at 6 p.m. Saturday at Centralia’s Historic Liberty Theater. Tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for children. They are available at Hubbub, Holley’s Place, Book ‘n’ Brush and on brownpapertickets.com. The Historic Liberty Theater is located at 413 N Tower Ave in Centralia.
