PRESQUE ISLE, Maine — Officials with United Way of Aroostook have chosen five additional contestants from both the Fort Kent and Presque Isle regional Northern Star competitions to compete in the finale on Sunday, March 25.
This year United Way added the wildcard picks, or “United Way Saves,” as an opportunity for individuals who were not chosen by the audience or judges at any of the three regional competitions to advance to the finale.
The chosen wildcard finalists are Kacie Chapman of Presque Isle and Jacob Graham of Mapleton, who competed at Presque Isle Middle School, and Brendon Peace of Fort Kent, Shelby Boyden of Easton, and junior contestant Sadie Cormier, all of whom competed at the University of Maine at Fort Kent. No wildcard contestants were named out of the Houlton regional event.
During the Presque Isle regional Northern Star competition on Saturday, March 10, Chapman sang “Once” by Maren Morris while Graham, a seventh-grade math and science teacher at Presque Isle Middle School, performed “Midnight Special” by Credence Clearwater Revival. At Fort Kent on March 9, Peace played the piano and sang “Elastic Heart” by Sia, and Boyden sang “All I Ask” by Adele. Cormier played cups while singing “Cups” by Anna Kendrick.
“Our United Way Save Committee looked for talent, diversity and community support when selecting our wildcard winners. There was so much talent in this year’s shows that we could not pick just three so we selected five, including an additional junior contestant,” United Way Executive Director Sherry Locke said.
In addition to the now 16 finalists, the Northern Star All-Talent Finale will feature last year’s Northern Star Hope Chernesky, a violin player formerly of Houlton. Chernesky was unable to perform at any of the regional shows this year because her family has moved to the southern part of the state.
Northern Star held regional competitions at Fort Kent, Presque Isle and Houlton last weekend. The finale will start at 2 p.m. Sunday, March 25, at the Caribou Performing Arts Center. Tickets are $10 each and can be purchased at all Acadia Federal Credit Union and The County Federal Credit Union locations.
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- Kacie Chapman, 16, of Presque Isle, performs “Once” by Maren Morris on Saturday, March 10, during the Northern Star regional competition at Presque Isle Middle School. She and four other singers who were not originally chosen as finalists now will compete in the finale on March 25 thanks to the “United Way Save.” (Jessica Potila)
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- Brendon Peace plays the piano and sings “Elastic Heart” by Sia during the Northern Star regional competition at the University of Maine at Fort Kent’s Fox Auditorium on Friday, March 9. United Way of Aroostook chose Peace and four other contestants to advance to the finale through the wildcard pick, or “United Way Save.” (Jessica Potila)
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- Shelby Boyden, of Easton, performs “All I Ask” by Adele during the Northern Star regional show in Fort Kent on Friday, March 9. Boyden is one of four contestants originally not chosen as Northern Star finalists who have been “saved” by the United Way of Aroostook’s wildcard picks and will advance to the finale on Sunday, March 25, at the Caribou Performing Arts Center. (Jessica Potila)
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- Sadie Cormier performs “Cups” by Anna Kendrick and plays the cups during the Fort Kent Northern Star competition on Friday, March 9. Cormier is the junior contestant who has been chosen, along with four other contestants, by the “United Way Save” to advance to the Northern Star Finale in Caribou even though she had not been originally selected as a finalist. (Jessica Potila)
