Registration open for 'Stars'

Do you think you could be a star?

A competition this summer again offers the chance to prove it.

Jay County Chamber of Commerce’s Stars in the Park talent competition is continuing to look for contestants as it prepares for its fifth season.

The deadline to enter the competition has been pushed to May 17. Registration forms and more information are available at http://www.starsinthepark.com.

Organizers have tweaked the format of the competition again this year, with the entirety of the event to be held at Portland’s Hudson Family Park. For the last few years, there have been quarterfinal competitions in Portland, Berne and Hartford City, with semifinals and finals in Portland.

“So you had to actually perform three times,” said John Boggs, a chamber board member and one of the lead organizers of the event.

Berne was unable to secure a viable competition date this year and Hartford City decided to instead hold a karaoke competition, thus moving the entirety of Stars in the Park back to Portland.

This time around, there will be four quarterfinals — at 6:30 p.m. June 29 and July 6, 20 and 17 — with 12 competitors in each. Four contestants from each quarterfinal will advance to the finals.

“This way we get more contestants into the finals,” Boggs said.

All 16 finalists will compete at 6:30 p.m. Aug. 4, with prizes being awarded to the winner ($1,250), first runner-up ($500), second runner-up ($250) and fan favorites in two age brackets ($250 each).

The other change to the competition format will be in the form of voting. As in previous years, everyone in attendance will get three tickets with which to vote (possibly with an increase to five for the finals). Contestants will also be evaluated by a three-judge panel for the quarterfinals and a five-judge panel for the finals.

The top audience pick, the top two remaining contestants via combined audience (one third) and judges (two thirds) scores, and a judges’ choice will advance to the finals from each quarterfinal.

Boggs noted that participation in the competition, which has been won by vocalists Holly Rittenhouse and Gabe Bailey, dancers Jamie Harshman and Jamie Razo (Jamie Squared) and magician/comedian Dick Stoner, has not been driven by the grand prize.

“We thought at the outset that we’d get lots of people involved for the money,” he said. “That’s why we set the grand prize so high. Frankly, the thing that surprises me is most of the people who enter, enter because they enjoy performing. And most of the people that show up, show up because they really enjoy seeing the acts.

“It really has turned into what I wanted it to be, and I didn’t think it would be, but it’s a community event.”