Last day of Boone County Fair syncs in for fairgoers

By Anne Eickstadt

REPORTER

Running a lip sync contest has certain requirements, and the 2016 Boone County Fair covered all of them on Sunday, Aug. 14.

Master of Ceremonies Arnie Pearse kept the show running smoothly from one person to the next. The bookkeeper, Terry, handled the details of registering contestants, tallying the judges’ scores, and handing out prizes.

The contestants chose their songs and relayed their choice to DJ Rick Arward of RPM’s Complete DJ Service, www.rpmsdjservice.com, in Belvidere. Arward spun the tunes for the lip sync contest.

‘Lip sync’ is the term used for the practice of miming spoken or sung vocals. It is often done to improve performance vocals during a show which includes dance numbers, to avoid singing sour notes during a live concert, for special effects and other sound mix reasons.

Four people entered the contest.

“Have a little drama with your lip sync contest,” Pearse said, following Jonathon Oulich’s performance of “Sound of Silence” by Chicago’s heavy metal band Disturbed.

Young Jaylea Decker took the third place prize with her song ‘Watch Me” by the artist Silento.

“It’s a fun song,” Decker said. “I love singing.”

Second place winner, Bonnie Ver Hagen, chose “Girl Crush” by the critically acclaimed country music group Little Big Town.

First place winner Jeffrey Cowles went all out on his version of “Master Blaster” by American comedy rock duo, Tenacious D, comprised of actor Jack Black and Kyle Gass. Cowles bounced energetically around the stage, adding a knee drop during his song.

“I broke my knee a little last year,” he said. “We’ve [gesturing towards his friend Jonathon Oulich] been doing it since we started coming here. We do karaoke and realized they have a lip sync contest also. It’s a yearly tradition for us now.”

As the first place winner, Cowles received $75. Second place received $50, and third place took home $25.