List of winners from annual talent show and snow sculpture competition

BY Jason Emerson

editor

Similar to last year’s Cazenovia Winter Festival this year’s event lived up to its seasonal name — with vast amounts of snow covering the village.

The festival occurred this year with the annual snow sculpture contests for students and village residents, the talent show, ice skating, skiing, snowshoeing and the usual horse-drawn wagon rides throughout the village, among other activities, on Saturday; while Sunday, Empire Brewing Company hosted its first snow sculpture competition and medallion hunt at the farm brewery, children 12 and under ran in the annual Snowflake Run around the village green and the library hosted its annual Winter Festival chocolate party.

“Unlike past years, Mother Nature delivered a truly wintery weekend for the festival this year. The whole weekend has been a great opportunity for Cazenovians to come out of hibernation and enjoy all the events in our community,” said Mayor Kurt Wheeler.

The festivities began Thursday, Feb. 8, with the opening of the Winter Festival Art Exhibit and continued Friday night at the festival’s opening ceremony with the annual crowning of the festival king and queen and the student talent show.

Gina and Don Raleigh, last year’s “royal court,” passed the crowns onto their 2018 successors, Ron and Annie Chesbrough. The foursome then acted as judges for the talent show.

Masters of Ceremony Lucy Langan, Glenn Hartley and Jimi McPherson guided the audience through the evening’s acts of performers. The show offered 14 acts from students in grades five through 12, punctuated with an intermission during which members of Project Café, who sponsored the evening, provided refreshments.

After more than one hour of varied entertainment, all of which received loud cheers and huge applause from the audience, the judges announced eight awards and the audience selected the People’s Choice winner for the evening by the volume of their applause.

The People’s Choice Award went to Ilsa Denton, who sang “Never Enough” from the film “The Greatest Showman.” Denton’s performance garnered an enthusiastic and sustained standing ovation from the crowd, as well as painfully loud applause during the voting for the People’s Choice Award.

Denton, age 10, who is a fifth grader in Cazenovia, said she has been singing since she was three, just because she loves to sing. “It’s an honor,” she said after the show of her award.

The rest of the night’s awards were:

—Best instrumental: Jared Smith, who played “No Time for Caution” on the piano.

—Best individual dance with string accompaniment: Kelly Frost and Isla Stover for “Celtic Reel.”

—Best vocal group: Lydia LaGorga and Kayla Karmis who performed “California Dreaming.”

—Most creative: Ian Marshall who performed a guitar solo.

—Best vocal solo: Maddie Meigs who performed “I Dreamed a Dream.”

—Best dance with singing or musical instrument: Corinne Albricker and Sami Carnahan who performed “Most Girls.”

—Most heartwarming: Abby Falso for her original rap, “Grandma’s Note.”

Also performing in the talent show were: Victoria Hunt, Sophie Axe, Rayne Devine, Laura Connor, Betsy Chanatry, Christina Brown, Elora Wilmot and Daniel Kempinski.

On Saturday, Feb. 10, the day’s activities kicked off with Cazenovia High School students in grades eight through 12 seeing which class could create the best snow sculpture under the theme of “animals.” The competition judges, examining the hours of work students put into their creations, awarded the senior class’s octopus sculpture as the first place winner — by one point. Second place went to the junior class, third place to the freshmen class, fourth place to the eighth grade class and fifth place to the sophomore class.

There were also two community sculptures entered in the annual competition. The First Prebyterian Church of Cazenovia won first place in the community organization category for the sculpture of a cat they did on the church’s front lawn. The Neville family on Lincklaen Terrace won first place in the family category for their sculpture of a dragon.