Local singers headed to Northern Star finale

by Staff Pioneer Times
15 years ago

By Scott Mitchell Johnson
Staff Writer
    CARIBOU —    The southern Northern Star finalists — Wyatt Jenkins and Zachariah Harvey, both of Houlton, and Jason Shaw from Hartland, N.B. — will join the winners from the central and northern regions in the United Way’s grand finale Sunday in Caribou. The talent show fund-raiser hits the stage at 2 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 28 at the Performing Arts Center on outer Sweden Street.
    Tickets are $10, and are available at all Aroostook County Key Bank branches. All proceeds from funds raised will go directly to the United Way of Aroostook annual campaign.
    Since the United Way of Aroostook launched the original “Aroostook Idol” fund-raiser in 2005, it has drawn more than 150 competitors to the stage. It also has raised more than $150,000 to benefit agencies funded by the United Way in Aroostook County.
    “We have a goal this year of raising $500,000,” said Claudia Stevens, executive director of the United Way of Aroostook. “By the time we’re done the finale, with our ticket sales and sponsorships, we should have raised about $25,000 through the Northern Star series.”
    Stevens, who hosted the show with Jason Parent, told the audience that the money will be used to fund a number of United Way initiatives.
    For more information on the “Northern Star” competition, contact the United Way of Aroostook at 207-764-5197.
Photo contributed by V irginia Joles
FINALISTS — Eight “Northern Star” regional finalists practiced opening and closing numbers on Monday night at the United Way of Aroostook office in preparation for the Saturday, Feb. 28 finale, which begins at 2 p.m. at the Caribou Performing Art Center. Regional winners competing for the first “Northern Star” title include, from left: Alyson Michaud, 16, from Caribou; Stacie Coltart, 39, from Madawaska; Jordan Buckley, 12, from Westfield; Lance Albair, 32, from Woodland; Megan Ouellette, 17, from Clair, N.B; Wyatt Jenkins, 17, from Houlton; Isabelle Pelletier, 12, from St. Jacques, N.B., and Zacharia Harvey, 16, from Houlton. Jason Shaw, 35, from St. Thomas, N.B., is missing from the photos.