Officials with the United Way of Aroostook have announced plans for the eighth season of the popular Northern Star competition – with a new twist. For the first time, all three regional contests, in Fort Kent, Houlton and Presque Isle, are set for the same weekend – March 1-3.
Applications for the 2013 edition of Northern Star are now available, and vocalists on both sides of the border – solo and group acts – are encouraged to apply as soon as possible if they want to take part in one of the three regional shows.
The first competition is set for Friday, March 1 at 7 p.m. (U.S. time) in the Fox Auditorium at the University of Maine at Fort Kent for singers from St. John Valley and Madawaska County, New Brunswick contestants.
Southern Aroostook County and Carleton County, New Brunswick residents compete at the Houlton High School Auditorium on Saturday, March 2 at 7 p.m. (U.S. time).
The final regional show will be held on Sunday, March 3 at 2 p.m. (U.S. time) at the Presque Isle Middle School Auditorium for central Aroostook and Victoria County, New Brunswick residents.
“We see this as a great opportunity to build momentum County-wide and to capitalize on the excitement that grows each year with each of our productions,” said Claudia Stevens, executive director of the United Way of Aroostook and Northern Star co-host. “By staging all three shows in the same weekend everyone will know who will appear in the finale in Caribou two weeks later, and all of the talented performers will have the same opportunity to get their fans in the audience at the Caribou Performing Arts Center.”
Applications for the new season are now available through the United Way of Aroostook office, online atwww.unitedwayaroostook.org, and at any northern Maine branch of Key Bank. Residents, age 12 and above, who live in the three counties in New Brunswick that border Aroostook County are eligible to compete alongside solo singers from northern Maine.
For the third year, organizers are inviting singing groups – duos, trios and quartets – from both sides of the international border to compete as well. In another change for the 2013 edition of Northern Star, all group acts in the preliminary round will compete in the regional show in Presque Isle for a coveted spot in the finale.
“What we have found since we introduced the group competition three years ago is that the duos, trios and quartets that have signed up are often made up of members from different geographic parts of The County,” said Jason Parent, Northern Star co-host and United Way volunteer. “In fact, many of our group acts are comprised of solo performers from different regions who have met through the Northern Star Competition and have come together to blend two, three or four great voices. By having all of the group performers compete in the Presque Isle show we make it easier for this kind of collaboration and more convenient for audience members.”
Parent and Stevens point to the success of the finale held annually on a Sunday afternoon in Caribou.
The show co-hosts say the afternoon show draws audience members from throughout Aroostook who take advantage of the central location and daylight travel to and from the production.
A committee of volunteers has been at work for several months planning for the eighth season of the singing competition that has raised nearly $300,000 and County-wide and international visibility for the United Way of Aroostook through the years. The top solo singer in the 2013 competition will be named the Northern Star, while the singing group will be called Northern Stars United.
Organizers are targeting 15 as the number of singing acts – solo and group combined – for each of the three regional shows in Fort Kent, Houlton and Presque Isle.
Audiences at each of the productions will determine two top solo winners from their region, and judges will pick the third. All nine solo singers will compete on March 17 at the Caribou Performing Arts Center to determine the Northern Star winner
Northern Stars United contestants will first compete at the regional show in Presque Isle. Audience members there will select two finalists groups, and judges the third, to send to Caribou to compete in the finale to be named Northern Stars United 2013.
Organizers will continue with changes they made to the judges panel two years ago when they went away from having the same three judges appear at each regional venue.
Instead, three local celebrity judges from that specific region will sit on each panel.
At the end of each production, the audience will determine, by applause, which one of the three judges at their regional venue will “move on” to serve as a judge at the finale.
Admission to each regional production will be $10. All proceeds from funds raised at the door will go directly to the United Way of Aroostook’s annual campaign. For more information on the Northern Star competition, contact the United Way of Aroostook at (207) 764-5197.
