Hauge Memorial talent show

Saturday, September 16, was a beautiful day with the sun shining, a slight breeze in the air which made for a nearly perfect temperature all day. It was the kind of day that Pastor Tim would have loved, and you could feel his smile and hear his one-of-a-kind chuckle with every new act.

Hosted by Tammy Carlson Tokas and with both adult and youth divisions, she allowed sign-ups until the very last possible minute.

Nate Lathrop, 51, opened the show with an interesting array of four different songs. For his first song, he played his late father's (The Colonel) guitar and sang "He's Got The Whole World in His Hands," followed by "What Child Is This?, Skip to My Lou and an original song written by Lathrop in 2002 on his way to Afghanistan called "Freedom at the Cost of a Friend."

Christina Leffler, 35, showed the crowd she has a surprisingly soulful voice that would be easy to listen to and quite calming as she played her guitar and sang an original song she'd written called "Yes, I Will" with a surprisingly soothing voice that seemed to win over the crowd rather quickly.

Third up for the adults was 34-year-old Thad Steffler who played guitar and sang an original song he wrote called "She Would." At first his nerves were a bit obvious, but once he started pushing past the nerves and feeling more comfortable onstage, it was very noticeable, because his music came alive. The crowd loved it and started really getting into it, hoping to hear an encore after the show was done.

For the kids, or I should say young adults, Victoria Peterson, age 14, started things off with her beautiful Australian Shepard Mittie who took the stage for an obedience demonstration. Peterson had him sit, stay, come, heel and also jump through a hula hoop. Mittie seemed perfectly at home on stage and performed every request by Petersen flawlessly and with no anxiety whatsoever.

Next up was 16-year-old Evan Gonzales who won over the crowd almost immediately when he played and sang a very mature song called Miss Valentine that he had written about his love of a girl and his inability to find the right words to tell her.

Julieanne Lovvik, age 14, sang a song called Partners in Crime a cappella, proving that even though she was so nervous she was visibly shaking, she sang the song and projected in such a way that a choir teacher would be proud.

Singing another a cappella song was Mya Ford, age 11, who chose Stone Cold for her song. Although her nerves almost got the better of her, she showed the crowd that in the future she will have some pipes that will give other contestants a run for their money.

The crowd judged their favorites by clapping and the three judges (Marilyn Carlson, Dyanne Kramer-Deering and Karen Carlson) determined the top three in each group.

The top three adult acts were:

1st place, Thad Steffler, who won a pizza and T-shirt from Rolling Thunder Pizza, an Odessa Tigers coffee cup and a $10 Wal-Mart gift card.

2nd place, Christina Leffler, winning an Odessa Tigers coffee cup and $10 Wal-Mart gift card.

3rd place, Nate Lathrop, winning an Odessa Tigers coffee cup and $10 Wal-Mart gift card.

The top young adults were:

1st place, Evan Gonzales, who won an Odessa Tigers coffee cup, $10 Wal-Mart gift card, $5 Odessa Drug gift certificate and $20 cash.

2nd place, Julieanne Lovvik, winning an Odessa Tigers coffee cup and $10 Wal-Mart gift card.

3rd place, Mya Ford, winning an Odessa Tigers coffee cup and $10 Wal-Mart gift card.

Attendance was pretty good for the second annual talent show and Carlson-Tokas did a great job hosting. Now that the word is out there, maybe more contestants and even better weather will be on hand next year.