PRESQUE ISLE — A New Year brings with it a new search for Aroostook County and western New Brunswick’s top vocalist. The United Way of Aroostook has officially launched a new season of its popular Northern Star competition with a call for talent going out to residents age 12 and older in Aroostook County, and Madawaska, Carleton and Victoria counties on the New Brunswick side of the border.
The dates for the regional productions are set and plans are to hold the contest earlier than in recent years, so officials are encouraging prospective contestants to get applications in sooner rather than later. The first of the regional competitions is set for Friday, Jan. 30 at 7 p.m. in the Fox Auditorium at the University of Maine at Fort Kent. The second regional show will be held Saturday, Jan. 31 at 7 p.m. at the Presque Isle Middle School auditorium. The final contestants will compete at the Houlton High School auditorium Sunday, Feb. 1 at 2 p.m.
This year, as opposed to previous years, contestants can sign up for whichever date/location works best for them. Prior to last year, participants performed at the venue closest to where they live.
“Many times, over the years, we have had contestants unable to participate because they were working or had some other scheduling conflict with the regional show closest to them,” said Claudia Stevens, executive director of the United Way of Aroostook. “We wanted to open the contest up to vocalists to participate in the show of their choice. We are also hoping this will mean people who attend our regional shows will hear the voices of singers they might not otherwise.”
Organizers of the popular international singing contest — which first began 11 years ago as Aroostook Idol before expanding to include competitors from neighboring parts of New Brunswick — are again moving forward with a twist first added during the 10th anniversary season in 2013. The local stage show, originally modeled after the popular FOX television show “American Idol,” has added a concept introduced on the NBC television sensation “The Voice.”
“Essentially, our audience will pick their top two contestants from each regional show in Fort Kent, Presque Isle and Houlton, as they have for several years. The added twist is that instead of the judges picking the third finalist to head to our finale production, they will actually pair each of the audience selections with a pick of their own. Each of the contestant pairs will work with a regional judge to prepare and sing one song together at the finale,” said Stevens. “At the finale, the audience will vote for the contestant in each pair they feel is the strongest. The audience picks will then compete solo in the final round for the 2015 Northern Star title.”
Applications for the 2015 season of Northern Star are now available, and vocalists on both sides of the border are encouraged to apply as soon as possible if they want to take part in one of the three regional shows. The forms can be downloaded off the United Way of Aroostook website at www.unitedwayaroostook.org, or picked up at any northern Maine branch of Key Bank. Residents, age 12 and above, who live in the three counties in New Brunswick that border Aroostook County, are eligible to compete alongside solo singers from northern Maine.
“I am looking forward to our 11th season of Northern Star. Our audience members enjoyed the new additions to our shows last year and really liked the paired singing duets in the battle round at the finale. That production now involves more contestants from the regional shows and keeps more of the singers in contention for the title through the final round,” said Jason Parent, who co-hosts the show with Stevens and has been with the production since the beginning.
Organizers are targeting 15 as the number of singers for each of the three regional shows. The pairs of singers created with the audience and judges’ picks from these shows will compete in the Northern Star Finale on Sunday, Feb. 8 at 2 p.m. at the Caribou Performing Arts Center.
Organizers will continue with changes they made to the judges panel a few years ago when they went away from having the same three judges appear at each regional venue. Instead, three local “celebrity” judges from that specific region will sit on each panel. The local judges will help “coach” the regional contestant pairs for the finale, including picking the song they will perform.
Northern Star was born more than a decade ago when officials with the United Way of Aroostook took a chance on a new fundraiser they hoped would replace an annual county-wide telethon. Eleven years later, they have succeeded in developing the largest and most successful talent show in northern Maine and northwestern New Brunswick, raising more than $350,000 over the years for numerous worthwhile non-profit organizations, and making regional celebrities out of some of the international region’s top vocalists.
Admission to each regional show and the finale production is $10. All proceeds from funds raised at the door will go directly to the United Way of Aroostook’s annual campaign.
For more information, contact the United Way of Aroostook at 764-5197.
