Talent contest set for Sunday

Acts from all over the country have graced the Van Trees Park stage this year.
Chelsea House Orchestra made its way south from Michigan. Savannah Jack headed north from Nashville (after a stint on a Carnival cruise ship). And New York native Dwight Lennox and his Avenue Express visited from their home east of Columbus.
On Sunday though, all of the talent will be home grown.
Fort Recovery Friends of the Arts will hold its Community Talent Contest beginning at 8 p.m. at the park on the northwest corner of the intersection of Butler and Fort Site Streets.
The event, part of the group’s summer concert series that last week brought Linda Lee to the stage, originated as a talent night. But in 2013 the organizers decided to throw in the aspect of competition.
“We got some new people on the committee,” said Fort Recovery Friends of the Arts president Terry Smith, “and they thought we ought to try it for a year or two and see how we get along with it instead of having them just come and perform and leave.”
He said the idea has been mostly well-received.
Bryn Dippold of Coldwater, Ohio, was the inaugural winner last year. St. Henry, Ohio’s, Garrett Koesters finished second, and Fort Recovery’s Tori Vaughn took third in front of the hometown crowd.
Smith noted that the weather has been mostly cooperative this year and that crowds have been above average. He’s hoping for more of the same at the talent competition.
“It’s always been one of our biggest turnouts,” he said. “I think they like to see the kids come. Grandma and grandpa, mom and dad and aunts and uncles all come.”