Cape woman takes Heartland Idol title

To cheers and applause from a responsive SEMO District Fair crowd, Anna Nice of Cape Girardeau won the Ashley Furniture Home Store Heartland Idol contest over eight other finalists Saturday. The talent contest had been rescheduled from Wednesday night because of rain.

Asked what she enjoyed about the sunny midday show, having also reached last year's final round, Nice smiled and said, "The adrenaline and the music. Music is my life. Maddison Avance won last year, but she is so talented."

Nice, 20, won $1,000 and a recording session with the Brothers Walker of Bernie, Missouri, for her affecting versions of two challenging songs, Martina McBride's "Broken Wing" and Christina Aguilera's "Mercy on Me."

Like 16-year-old Sylvia Kern of New Hamburg, Missouri, Nice had advanced from a Heartland Idol preliminary at the Boat House Wine Co. in Bloomfield, Missouri, on Aug. 29.

Kern, a Scott City High School student in western attire, sang traditional country songs, "Blue Moon of Kentucky" and "Cowboy's Sweetheart."

"I like to make people smile and to see them come out and enjoy the show," Kern said. "Music is my life's dream. It's what I would like to do for the rest of my life."

Jackson High School choir member and finalist Alicen Sander had improved from peaking at the semifinals last year.

"This year, I'm here, and I'm really pumped about it," said Sander, 15. "I just like being out there, giving it my all."

Rachel Cook, promotions director for the co-sponsoring "93.9 The River" radio station, estimated the crowd at 200 to 300.

Performing karaoke-style to prerecorded instrumental and harmony vocal soundtracks, other contestants were Alex Abernathy of Scott City; Kiara Farmer of East Prairie, Missouri; Hailey McGowen of Portageville, Missouri; and Amanda Stephens, Makaila Sanders and Danielle Childers, all of Cape Girardeau.

The judges were Clinton and Coty Walker, singer Brad Berry of Jackson and Southeast Missouri State University music instructor Mary Mims.

With some singers changing costumes between sets, they started at noon, did one song each of primarily pop and rock music and returned to do one more in the same order.

Avance sang "Who You Are," a Jessie J song, between sets, and radio personalities threw T-shirts to the crowd.

Other preliminaries were held at Lawless Harley-Davidson in Scott City, the Seminary Picnic in Perryville, Missouri, and the Pulaski County Fair in Illinois.

During the first set, the bus and trailer of fair headliner Clay Walker pulled up behind the stage and stopped. No one got out during the contest, however.