County Fair Talent Show

Dressed up and ready for the show.

Every summer, in countless county fairs across the United States the cotton candy is twirling, the rides are spinning, 4-Her’s are exhibiting their projects, and folks of every age are showing off their skills at the talent show. County fair’s have long held their own version of  “American’s Got Talent!” And I love a good local act. You can see just about everything at a talent show: solos, quartets, duets, jazz dancing, ethnic dancing, instrumentals of every kind, magic acts, skits, you name it and someone in the community can probably do it! The Minnesota State Fair has featured an amateur talent contest for over 35 years, drawing from the winning acts at county fairs and their own open auditions.

For the last month my kids, Tessa (8) and Aaron (6), have been practicing a duet for the talent show at our county fair. Tessa participated last year, had a great experience and earned third place singing the oldie tune “Accentuate the Positive.” She was eager to do it again this year. Aaron really wanted to try, but was apprehensive. So a duet with his sister sounded like a safe option to him. They chose “Bop To The Top,” from High School Musical. It’s an upbeat number and much to his dismay took a lot of practicing in order to fit the words into the fast rhythm. It was hard to get any actions out of him, but for concentrating on the words. When he did add some grooving moves to the act he got really into them, forgetting to pause for his singing parts. We finally found a happy medium and I told him the words were more important if he had to make a choice.

Aaron was also pretty nervous. He was so obstinate to practice, at times it seemed I was forcing him to do it, which I would never want to do! I had to keep asking him “Do you really want to do this?” He responded with “I do, but I don’t.” We talked about stage fright and nervousness and how everyone feels that way. That I was just really proud of him for having the courage to get up on stage. Tessa by now, seems an old pro in comparison! But, when the time for a full dress rehearsal in costume, Aaron was all for it. He always has been about the clothes.

On the way to the fair, Tessa blurts out, “I forgot to brush my teeth today!” Well this was a little disappointing to hear, but I said, “Oh well. Too late to go back now, we’ll take a look and scrape them off if we have to.” I gave them the once over. Not too bad. Just a bit of Dorito from Taco-in-a-bag stuck between the front teeth. Nothing a fingernail and a napkin couldn’t handle!

They performed well and were crowd pleasers, not too much extra movement from Aaron, but he didn’t forget any words and he even threw his hat off to the audience when the song was completed. An extra touch he thought of himself! It was good enough for a third place finish and $5 each.

After arriving home we watched the video of their performance. Aaron proclaimed, “No wonder we only got third, I just stood there like a post!” I told him he did great and should be proud. He says he’s glad he did it, but he’s done with talent shows for now. Tessa will have to go back to a solo career. But if all eyes are going to be on her smile,  I’ll just have to give an extra reminder to take care of those pearly whites!