The winners of the 2011 Portsmouth Idol competition are, from left to right: Bobby Blanton, second place; Foresta Shope, third place; and Josh Stewart, first place.
The fourth annual Portsmouth Idol was held Friday at the Vern Riffe Center For the Arts and featured 13 contestants vying for the title.
Stewart is a graduate of Valley High School and tied for first place in the Brown County Fair singing competition. He performed “Bless This Broken Road” by the Rascal Flatts.
Bobby Blanton of Franklin Furnace took home second place. He also is scheduled to perform in Orlando and has performed in Nashville and River Days.
Third place was awarded to Foresta Shope of Sciotoville. She is principal at Sciotoville Elementary Academy and a principal at Sciotoville Community School. She has previously performed at River Days and area sporting events.
“The community really come out to support us and their favorite singers,” said John Huston, a director with the Southern Ohio Light Opera.
“There were 13 contestants. From that, five were voted to what we call the final round. That included Jessica Scott and Zachery Doles (along with Stewart, Blanton and Shope,)“ Huston said.
From the top five, the top three contestants were determined by crowd participation.
“We were impressed with the amount of talent that each of the contestant brought to the competition,” Huston said.
He said Portsmouth Idol serves as a fundraiser for the Southern Ohio Light Opera, to support programing.
“This year, we will be producing a Gilbert and Sullivan light opera called Princess Ida,” Huston said.
He said the details of the event are still be worked out. The production will be July 14-16 at the Vern Riffe Center For the Arts. Huston said Faith Esham is expected to be in a leading role of the production. He said auditions should take place in the near future.
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