The 40th Bell Tower Festival included several friendly competitions.
Young performers took advantage of an opportunity to be on stage and compete for a chance to be on the Bill Riley Stage at the Iowa State Fair. Performers came from Jefferson, Cherokee, Gowrie, Harlan, Urbandale and Bayard.
Winning in the Sprout division for ages 2-12 was 10-year-old vocalist/pianist Norah Otis of Urbandale. Brooklyn Miller, 11, of Gowrie placed second with an acro dance solo, and Kaycee Pittman, 11, of Jefferson placed third with a lyrical acro dance.
In the Senior division for ages 13-21, vocalist Tommy Bates of Bayard placed first. Placing second was a tap dance duet of Zoey Bowers, 14,and Lily Olson, 13, of Harlan, and placing third was Hanna Mummert, 13, of Cherokee with a pointe dance.
First place winners advance to competition at the Iowa State Fair.
Judges for the evening were veteran Bill Riley competitor and dancer Abby McConnell, and Kelsey Moran and Kyra Babcock, vocal music and instrumental music directors at AC-GC High School.
Don Van Gilder served as emcee with Jim Geise helping on stage, Doug Hawn providing sound, and Clay Ross helping with arrangements. Victoria Chargo was show manager and local coordinator was Tori Riley.
In the spelling bee, James Eliserio of Jefferson won in the grades 1-2 division, and Gavin Vander Linden and Lucy Vander Linden placed first and second (respectively) in the grades 5-8 division. Logan Hoyt of Ankeny, formerly of Scranton, took first in the adult division and Stephanie Eliserio of Jefferson took second.
Pronouncer was Andy McGinn and judges were Shirley Stapleton and Jan Rosdail. The spelling bee was organized by Roger Aegerter for the Greene County Historical Society.
A team that has called itself “Another Year Older” for the past several years won the AAI/Spalding 3-on-3 basketball tournament held at Russell Park Saturday. This was their fifth consecutive win in the tournament.
