Grays Harbor Idol

By Marcella Zengota

OCEAN SHORES, WA – The Quinault Beach Resort and Casino along with KIX 95.3 FM hosted the 5th Annual Grays Harbor Idol Contest in late March, featuring DJ James Michael Powers.

Open to singers from outside the Grays Harbor area, contestants from all over Washington endured ten weeks of elimination rounds. The top two finalists, Maya Terry and Ted Vigil, were both residents of Olympia.

Maya Terry exploded onto the stage, pumping up the audience with back-to-back, upbeat female country songs, “Here for the Party” and “Thats What I like About You”. Then she toned it down with “Blue Bayou” and switched the genre again to “Harden my Heart” by Quarterflash.

Next up was Ted Vigil, starting off with “How Far is Heaven”, and then two of his own original songs, “Where Dreams Come True” and “Desert Rose”. He closed the first half of the contest with “Country Road” by John Denver, which was fitting due to the fact that Ted is a spitting image of John Denver!

During the intermission, last year’s Grays Harbor Idol Winner, Mark Skyner, made an encore, singing a wide range of songs including, Journey, Maroon 5, Righteous Bros. and a spine-tingling version of “Alone” by Heart!

The Annual Grays Harbor Idol contest winners receive $2000 for first place, plus an invitation to perform the following year for another $500. The winner will also receive dinner and a room for two. The runner-up walks away with $250 and also a $500 return performance, dinner and a room for two.

In the final round, Maya sang from a variety of artists including, Jewel, Heart and Joss Stone’s version of “Some Kind Of Wonderful”. Ted sang two more of his original songs “Great Light” and “Your Love Broke Through”, closing the show with a powerful version of “Rock and Roll” by Led Zeppelin.

Ted Vigil was pronounced Grand Prize Winner of the Grays Harbor Idol Contest 2006! Congratulations, Ted and Maya both!

Host

Maya

Ted

Ted, Maya & the Host