“I started my first year, the year before we started the talent show,” said Wes Shank, the event’s technical director. “We started the star search aspect four years ago," he adds.
Shank said the idea was to bring more people to Seymour.
The talent show itself has been running for five consecutive years, while in previous years the Y hosted other performances such as comedy shows and plays.
“We had other aspects of the show that we did some different types of things [with], and we decided it would just be more fun if we had a local talent show, and we knew there was talent in the area. We also knew that we'd have some fun with people in the area, so we decided to move to this talent show format, and it's been incredibly well received in the community,” said Shank.
During the past five years, the show has seen a variety of different types of performers including tap dancers, piano players, bands and even an Elvis impersonator. No matter the performance, the end goal of the show has been to earn money to help children and families attend programming at the Y.
“So if a family comes in, they're wanting a membership at the YMCA. This offers them a chance to actually get that membership. So we offer scholarships and stuff like that,” said Colin Piatt, facilities director of the Seymour YMCA.
Aside from the main talent show performance of roughly seven or so performers, the event also features a silent and live auction for guests.
In order to encourage more people to apply to be in the show, the Y has increased its winnings for the talent show contestants this year.
“We really stepped up. The first place winner [now] wins $1,000. Second place is $500. So again, it's really nice," said Shank. "And this year we also want to incentivize people to actually [just] come over. So if you make it through the selection process, you get $50 just for gas money. So it's just really a great opportunity to come over and take a shot at winning a thousand bucks.”
You can apply for the talent show by emailing auditions@ofymca.org and sending a video of you performing your talent in your format of choice.
“[It’s] a little nostalgic. It's just good, wholesome fun,” adds Shank.
“Giving back to the community [is] the big thing that resonates with me in this program, that we're able to give back to people that's given to us all year. It's a chance [for] people in the community to come in and see what they're contributing to, see what they're adding to, what legacies they're building and where the money is going to,” said Piatt.
Tickets for the talent show are available here.
You can visit the Seymour YMCA Facebook here.
