Eight-year-old Azael Ajanel wowed the crowd and the judges at the annual First Town Days Festival talent show with his yo-yo skills. It is a hobby he only took up in December 2024, and it earned him first place in the 13 and under group.
He learned about yo-yoing from his mother. He has not watched videos on the internet.
“My mom taught me how to use it, and I was making tricks up by myself,” Ajanel said.
Winning second place was Eve Dunlap, 9, who performed a tap dance to “Friend Like Me” from Aladdin. Dunlap is a student at Tuscarawas Dance Arts Center, where she learned the dance she performed. She is in her sixth year of tap dance lessons.
Placing third were Elsie Ruegsegger and Ivy Lycans for their self-choreographed acro dance to “Thick of It.”
Other participants in the 13 and under group included the following:—Stella Incarnato, 8, who sang “Uncle Sam Is Who I Am.”
—Tilly Incarnato, 5, who sang to “Beautiful Things” by Benson Boone.
—Lyla, 10, and Peyton Ecenbarger, who sang “You Belong to Me” by Taylor Swift.
—Betty Millard, 13, performed an interpretive dance to “Indescribable.”
—Silas Ecenbarger, 8, sang “Iris” by the Goo Goo Dolls.
—Alexandra Taylor, 12, performed a baton solo to “Pretty Little Baby.”
—Kali White, 6, performed a cheer routine to “Abracadabra” by Lady Gaga.
Last year’s 13 and under first-place winners were not eligible to compete this year, but sisters Isla and Aria Dotts performed “Wildflowers and Wild Horses” by Lainey Wilson. Cheyenne Millard, last year’s first-place 14 and up winner, also performed.
Renita Ecenbarger took first place in the 14 and up group with her vocals of a song she wrote for her husband called “Everything.” She wrote the song for their marriage four years ago.
Ecenbarger was surprised at her win.“There were so many good people in this show,” Ecenbarger said.
In the future she plans to continue to sing at talent shows and karaoke events in the area, and she will continue to write songs.
Kay Lorson took second place with her fiddle performance of “Ookpik Waltz/Durang’s Hornpipe.” Lorson has been playing the fiddle for about 20 years. Although she has participated in fiddle contests, this was her first time to perform in a talent show.
A trio of friends — Ashton Mundell, Maddie Carpenter and Natalie Szymialis — took third place with their performance of “Together Wherever We Go” from Gypsy. The friends first performed together as members of the Voltage A Cappella group at Claymont High School.Though it would be difficult to split the $25 prize money three ways, it didn’t concern them.“I just wanted the trophy,” Mundell said.
Other contestants in the 14 and up group included the following:
—Maggie Smith, 17, who sang “My Once Upon a Time” from “Descendants 3.”
—Marty Drexler filled the crowd with laughter with his comedy routine.
The competition was sponsored by Dover Hydraulics and hosted by Marc Davis of New Philadelphia.Davis congratulated all the contestants.
Judges for the competition were Kristi Prucha, choir director at New Philadelphia High School; April Linard, band director and instrumental music instructor at Claymont City Schools; and Shannon Mitchell, a teacher of dance, theater, piano and voice and the owner of Studio S Stage and Performing Arts.
