Sneads Ferry’s Got Talent! is a new part of the Sneads Ferry Shrimp Festival, coming up this weekend.
Singing, dancing, a little comedy and a jujitsu demonstration are coming to the 2022 Shrimp Festival in Sneads Ferry. Promising to be even bigger and better, the Shrimp Festival weekend will be filled with rides and a lot of great entertainment, and one of the new features of the annual festival is an innovative showcase of local talent. Sneads Ferry’s Got Talent! will be a fun and exciting part of the Shrimparoo dinners on Friday, October 21, and Saturday, October 22.
Kristina Spackman, who is organizing and will be hosting the talent show, says that the Shrimp Festival organizers were looking for some sort of indoor entertainment during the Shrimparoo dinner and reached out to her for ideas. Spackman is the founder and director of the Ferry Tales Youth Theater. She will be working with Tikisha-Michelle of Star-Studded Voices, LLC, to coordinate the show featuring the best of local talent.
Spackman says that when she was approached by festival organizers, she decided that a variety show might be best for the first-time event. Then she came up with the talent show idea. There are a total of 19 acts registered to perform on Friday and Saturday nights at 7 pm. Spackman will be emceeing one of the shows and an older student of hers, “a seasoned performer and awesome vocalist” will be emceeing the second night.
Spackman says the show will be “mostly music and some other cool, random things.” Shrimparoo diners will enjoy singers, dancers, comedians, instrumentalists and a jujitsu grapple, a demonstration of self-defense and competition skills.
There is a preschooler performing as well as “a lot of middle and high schoolers” and a few adults.
Performances will include popular newer songs performed by stellar vocalists and guitarists, Disney-related musical numbers and dances performed by Shrimp Festival queens. A unique aspect of this new talent show is that the audience will be the judge. Spackman says she is planning a “people’s choice kind of simple voting system” so the audience gets to vote for the winner.
Tikisha-Michelle, founder and owner of Star Studded Voices, is collaborating with Spackman to help “make sure their vocals are showcased in the best light.” The two met about a year and a half ago and found a common interest in giving young people as well as adults the opportunity to perform with confidence. In fact, that is part of the focus of Star Studded Voices, Tikisha-Michelle says, to give students “the opportunity to become a well-rounded musician” and to “potentially turn it from a passion to a profession.”
A rehearsal planned for the week leading up to the talent show will be an important part of that collaboration.
“During the rehearsal we will be there to offer assistance,” Tikisha-Michelle says. “We want to make sure they come up in the very best light. We want it to be their very best performance.”
Star Studded Voices was established in Wilmington in 2014, and the Sneads Ferry studio was opened in 2021. The local studio, at 1343 N.C. Highway 210, offers a variety of music lessons, including voice, piano, guitar, violin and mandolin. A few of the studio’s students will be performing in Sneads Ferry’s Got Talent! All participants will have the opportunity to sign up for a lesson and work with a vocal coach to gain confidence on stage.
Spackman’s Ferry Tales Youth Theater works with about 35 young people and offer camps, clubs and productions throughout the year.
Spackman and Tikisha-Michelle are planning future shows together, including an event for Christmas in the Ferry later this year. They are both looking forward to the exciting new Sneads Ferry’s Got Talent!, a great opportunity for individuals in the community to showcase their talent as part of the 2022 Shrimp Festival.
Want to go?
Sneads Ferry’s Got Talent!
Part of the Sneads Ferry Shrimp Festival
Friday, October 21, and Saturday, October 22
7 pm each night during the Shrimparoo dinner
Sneads Ferry Community Center, 126 Park Lane
Tickets to enter the Shrimp Festival are $5 this year, and Shrimparoo tickets are $15 a plate. Shrimparoo ticket holders will enjoy a great dinner and an entertaining show.
