The online premiere of Haida GwaiIdol has garnered 1,600 views since it was broadcast live on Thursday (Aug. 20) via the Village of Queen Charlotte Facebook page.
The “all talents, all ages, all communities” event was hosted by Mayor Kris Olsen along with councillors Lisa Pineault and Jesse Embree as judges.
The event had 15 acts from across the islands vie for four prizes as decided by an online poll of audience members.
Runner-up in the under 16 category was Sam Chutter, who won $100 for his original song inspired by fruit and fleas.
Twelve-year-old Ailish Bouwman of Sandspit took home the top prize of $200 in the under 16 category. She sang and played the ukulele, and the song was one that she wrote herself.
Bouwman told the Observer she wrote the untitled original tune in February for a friend.
“It’s about my best friend,” she said. “She’s going to high school this year and I just wrote about how I’m going to miss her.”
ALSO READ: Meet some of the Haida GwaiIdol contestants of 2020
Alanah Mountifield was named the runner-up in the 16 and over category, and awarded $100 for her original song that celebrates her daughter Cassie.
The winner was Sarina Kendall, who earned $250 for her “awesome cosplay costumes,” as Embree said.
The 16-year-old called in to tell the judges she has been making costumes for five years and has participated in two competitions in Vancouver. At one of the competitions she won best in show.
“I get my patterns by wrapping myself in old grocery bags and then wrapping myself in duct tape,” she said, explaining that she uses EVA foam sheets to make fake armour.
“I had no idea that was what’s going on down the street from me,” Pineault said.
Other participants included the Rainmakers of Haida Gwaii band, who performed their original pandemic song “Windows,” Sphenia Jones and Elsie of the Naughty Nannies, who shared a joke about Forest Gump going to heaven, Makenna Chutter, who performed an original song about finding a sweet treat, Phil Roy aka MC Philosophy, who shared an original beat, S’ya, who danced a slow-paced silk veil improvisation, Katie Sinkins, who showed off roller-skating talent in a video recorded at the Queen Charlotte skatepark, Sarah Waters, who covered Celine Dion’s “That’s The Way It Is,” Riley Dorman, who played acoustic guitar and shared images of daily life during the pandemic, Stella Sinkins and Taya Dickson Brown, who brought the children’s book “If You Give a Mouse a Cookie” to life, Sadie Brown, who sang and played guitar, and Bexley Kaeon aka Lil Hexe, who covered Nirvana’s “The Man Who Sold The World.”
Blair Weinberg aka Dub Jackson also put on a special guest performance from where he is currently residing in China.
“It is really nice to do something so positive at a time when it’s been pretty dark around here,” Pineault said to close the show.
ALSO READ: Rainmakers of Haida Gwaii set to perform for Special Woodstock
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