by RAY DOSS

Orcas High School student

Orcas Island showed off its talent once again last Saturday.

Local favorite Orcas Has Talent delivered another night of laughter, cheers, smiles and even some tears. Thirteen-year-old Stormy Hildreth took home the winning title.

This year’s performance marked the 10th anniversary of the show, with five years as Orcas Idol and five as Orcas Has Talent. The audience saw an array of local performers singing, dancing and playing all sorts of instruments.

Singers included Arianna Dean, Susan Egon, Brianna Rose and Cali Bagby. Sasha Hagen and Michael Harlow played beautiful tunes on the violin. And finalist Carl Burger played many different instruments including the guitar and the bango.

The audience also saw performances from last year’s winner, Almost Classical, and the hip winner of the Orcas Has Talent Junior show, Leo Miller.

At the end of the night, Hildreth won the first place grand prize of $500. She was an audience favorite throughout the night as the crowd went wild after every one of her goosebump-worthy performances.

The night was also held for a very good cause. The proceeds of Orcas Has Talent go toward benefiting the community through the youth leadership group formally known as Point Blank.

Group leader Julie Pinardi explained how the group helps empower teenagers to make better decisions concerning underage drug use, texting while driving, unhealthy relationships and this year’s focus, teen depression and suicide prevention.

Pinardi also talked about how the group is currently changing its image. The group also unveiled a new name: Next Generation.

The night had another surprise in store for the full house.

Because this year marked the 10th anniversary, head producer Donna Laslo announced that the show would be taking a break.

She said during a heartfelt speech that the show could come back someday – re-imagined and refreshed.

The crowd couldn’t help but feel nostalgic when they were shown a video of  images from past shows. Seeing how much talent the show has brought out is truly an incredible thing.

The show will be missed by the community, and hopefully someday it will return to showcase the outstanding talent the island has to offer, and continue to raise money for such an amazing cause.

Ray Doss is a member of Next Generation.