PdCToday.com asked April Vine to write about her experience as a contestant in the PDC Idol contest. She finished in first place.

This last Saturday, I was in finals for Prairie du Chien Idol sponsored by Bartow Builders, Coors Light, and Merle Norman Cosmetics.  Karen Bartow ran the Karaoke and did a wonderful job.  She was very sweet.

In order to make the finals contestants had to compete in several different rounds held each Saturday for over a month.  First, second, and third place winners moved on to the finals at Lakeview.  I took first place out of fifteen contestants in the opening round to advance.  I was pretty excited about that. These competitions are a lot of fun.

I also took first place at the finals! I couldn’t believe the turnout! The bar was packed! You could hardly move in there.  Food was selling, beers were flowing and everyone got along! After the competition was over they opened up karaoke to everyone. People were dancing and singing; it was such a great night! People really come out when the local singers compete!

There were people in this competition I never knew sang. One of the contestants was a local cop! And he did super great. Another contestant was a ten year old little girl who was amazing.  She ended up taking third place. Watch out for that one when she is older! Shane Hazen was also in the competition and placed second. He did great, too. I was told by many people that they would hate to be judges and I believe it.

I was pretty happy with my song choice, I sang “At Last”, by Etta James. It is a song with lots of power and control.  I was told by one of the judges that I gave such color to the competition and that they thought I was amazing and couldn’t say good enough things about me and my song. I love to sing modern country, however I grew up singing classics by Patsy Cline, Judy Garland, and Etta James.

Final Results
1st Place – April Vine
2nd Place – Shane Hazen
3rd Place – Jessie Lee