Formerly known as the Lake Country Open Mic Has Talent competition, the local singer-songwriter event continues to grow and change.
Founder of the Okanagan Singer Songwriter competition Jennifer Boal said she started the competition six years ago because she enjoyed creating original music.
The Lake Country resident started under the name of the Lake Country Open Mic Has Talent and the event has now branched out from a local event to one that spans the Okanagan.
“The idea of the competition came from a desire to showcase this incredible talent that came from the Okanagan,” said founder Jennifer Boal.
The ten finalists will be competing at the Lake Country Creekside Theatre at 6 p.m. on April 22. The event is free and open to the public.
The finalists for the event are Santana Cabral, Jesse Jacobson, Bo Scavvies, Ernest Anyway, Tanya Lipscomb, Michael Huber, Shaedan Hawse, Travis Flello, Briggita Davidson & Kennedy Fung, and Shaonie Auclair-Bergeron.
The number of contestants have nearly doubled since last year.
“We go from Salmon Arm to Penticton in terms of people that have been showing up,” said Boal.
Originally the Lake Country Open Mic Has Talent, this year is the first year the name changed.
“We’ve almost doubled our participants this year,” said Boal. The group has been expanding its social media outreach.
The idea started six years ago when Boal wanted to create her own music and there wasn’t a lot of opportunities to showcase original songs in Lake Country.
“My hope was, with the open mic, to have people come and create this great atmosphere to try out something new with a nice, warm welcoming crowd and people kept showing up.”
Find the Okanagan Music Group through their website lakecountryopenmic.ca, and visit Facebook to find out more event details.
The event begins at the Lake Country Coffee House where the competition started.
