East Philadelphia Avenue steamed in the sticky on and off sunshine and humidity, only mid- June can deliver, heralding the BMBA’s 2015 50th Sidewalk Expo. Early clouds and light breeze gave way to partial sun and building wind gusts as hearty shoppers braved the heat to grab a great deal or a quick bite to eat.
As Saturday afternoon wore on, more and more chairs began to appear at the Boyertown Rita’s parking lot and by 5 p.m. the whole intersection was packed with Boyertown Idol fans nervously watching the sky and waiting for their favorite contestant to take the stage. Idol host, Adam Moyer and Sound Factor Entertainment & Events were ready and launched right on time on one of the two stages set up for the evening’s festivities.
Drawing the first spot was Caitlin Petack who rocked a soulful rendition of Adele’s “Hiding My Heart”, followed by Diana Brunk whose range and power complimented Beyonce’s “Listen” very well. Music man Dave Hoffman threw the judges a change up with Old Blue Eye’s (that’s Frank Sinatra folks) iconic hit “New York, New York” and Sophia Sampayo changed the channel again to very cool version of Ginny Owens’ “If You Want Me To”.
Apparently Jenna Dittman enjoys Carrie Underwood and the Judges enjoyed Jenna’s “Something in the Water” too, Jaye Mains chose to sing the King of Pop’s (Oh come on keep up with me here, Michael Jackson) “You Are Not Alone”, gently crooning the crowd into intermission. Special Guest Judge Stephanie Grace didn’t get to take a break and teased her “After Idol Show” at Durango’s wowing the eager crowd with a pair of her favorite songs.
With storm clouds building contestant Jenny Shabrach took the stage performing an emotional rendition of Evanescence’s “My Immortal.” In another genre changer the Melanie Martinez song “Dollhouse” was a hit as Coral Sabedra transformed herself into a living, singing doll. It takes a lot of bass to cover Josh Turner’s “Your Man” and Micah Smith had that and more, Other Farm Favorite, Nikki Stone hit the crowd hard with Pat Benatar’s “Hit Me With Your Best Shot” as rain began to fall. The rain didn’t bother Natasha Adams as the crowd rocked along with her performance of “Man I Feel Like a Woman” neither the rocking or the rain stopped there as Jim Alexander took to the rather wet stage to perform a very ambitious version of Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody”. Many in the audience were singing along filling in some of the operatic parts that Jim was missing (which weren’t many) and carried out the mandatory head banging made famous in the movie “Wayne’s World”. Crowd behavior is amazing, it makes one wonder how many people really saw that movie …
The rain ended with the final gong, which also signaled the judges to start deliberations. As has always been the case, the 2015 Boyertown Idol judges had their work cut out for them. The amount of talent in the Boyertown area is amazing, varied in scope and always ready to perform.
It was agreed again, that on any given day, any of this year’s contestants could have walked away with the BMBA’s generous $500 check.
This year the consensus was that the 2015 crown should go to a very happy Jenny Shabrach. After an encore performance of “My Immortal” Jenny happily accepted her oversized check and mugged for the camera in the company of the Judges and Sound Factor’s Adam Moyer. One can only wonder what’s in store for 2016.
