{"id":21729,"date":"2018-09-27T12:36:43","date_gmt":"2018-09-27T16:36:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=21729"},"modified":"2018-09-27T12:36:43","modified_gmt":"2018-09-27T16:36:43","slug":"small-town-girl-big-time-dream-winner-announced-for-magna-hoedown-showdown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/small-town-girl-big-time-dream-winner-announced-for-magna-hoedown-showdown\/","title":{"rendered":"Small-town Girl, Big-time Dream: Winner Announced for Magna Hoedown Showdown"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Anna Cianni<\/strong><\/p>\n

Schomberg musician Vicki Biersteker is the winner of the 2018 Magna Hoedown Showdown.
\nThe finals took place on September 14 at the Magna Tent in Aurora. Biersteker, 22, competed onstage against nine other up-and-coming country artists and came in first place. The runners up were talented musicians Dustin Bird from Stirling, who came in second place, and Dayna Reid from Elmvale, who came in third.
\nCongratulations to all the finalists for their captivating performances and for helping make the Magna Hoedown such a success. This year, $538,105 was raised for 20 charities. Great job to finalists Mary Paige St. Onge from Seaforth, Katie Sacco from Toronto, Derek Reilly from Queensville, Molly McNulty from Barrie, Zoe Jayne from Schomberg, Patrick James Clark from London, and Amir Brandon from Toronto.
\nFor winning the province-wide competition, Biersteker received a prize valued at over $25,000, which includes a $2,500 cash prize, Yamaha guitar and amp package, $2,500 styling and gift card package from Upper Canada, two full days of recording at Metalworks Studios, \u2018The Ultimate Artist Package\u2019 with professional management, coaching, styling, and songwriting by industry professionals. She also got to perform again on the second night of the hoedown, before Blue Rodeo.
\n\u201cIt was wild! Friday night was my first time performing on stage with a band, so the second night was actually a little easier.\u201d Biersteker is new to performing and has only been the star on stage three times in her life, all of which were during this competition. \u201cI was very shocked to win! I was really just going into the contest for the experience.\u201d
\nBesides singing, Biersteker also plays piano and guitar, but she said she used to hide her music ability when she was younger. In fact, she first sang in front of a live audience for a school play when she was around age 12. \u201cI\u2019m just excited to not be only playing in my room anymore,\u201d she laughed.
\nBiersteker auditioned on Aug. 7 in front of judges Steve Hinder, Beverley Mahood, and Tom Cross at Theatre Aurora. She sang Space Cowboy by Kacey Musgraves and qualified for the semi-finals on August 25.
\nThe semis took place in Machell Park at this year\u2019s annual Aurora Ribfest. It was on that stage where Biersteker first got a taste of what it\u2019s like to perform for a crowd. She said, \u201cI was so nervous for that performance. It was the first time on stage with just me and a guitar.\u201d Biersteker sang Keeper of the Flame by Miranda Lambert and the judges told her, \u201cThat was a great song choice for you. You made Schomberg proud!\u201d
\nWhen she found out she had made it to the top ten and was going to perform at the annual Magna Hoedown for the 30th anniversary, she was floored. \u201cI was especially excited for mentorship week. To work with such successful people like Tom and Beverley, that\u2019s really why I was excited to be in the top ten.\u201d
\nAt the finals, the judges were Steve Hinder, manager of Magna Inc.; Joan Kelley Walker, star of The Real Housewives of Toronto; and Ted Ellis, chair of the CCMA Board of Directors. Walker said they struggled to a pick a winner since the finalists were all very strong.
\n\u201cWe were looking for someone who was comfortable on stage, looked great, and was natural and sincere. Vicki was all those things, so that\u2019s why we picked her,\u201d Walker said.
\nBiersteker revealed that before the finalists performed, \u201cTom and Beverley said they were not concerned about who wins, they just wanted a good show. So, I kinda forgot we were in the competition and I just went up and had fun.\u201d
\nHer family and friends were also there to support her. \u201cThey have been pushing me to do something with music, especially my dad. It just put a smile on all their faces.\u201d
\nNow, Biersteker plans to get better at guitar with her new equipment and also start performing more. Maybe we will see her on a country stage in the near future. \u201cThis year is definitely going to be my biggest year yet doing music!\u201d<\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Schomberg musician Vicki Biersteker is the winner of the 2018 Magna Hoedown Showdown.
\nThe finals took place on September 14 at the Magna Tent in Aurora. Biersteker, 22, competed onstage against nine other up-and-coming country artists…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":21693,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[27,4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21729","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-and-culture","category-general_news","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/2018-09-27-05.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-5Et","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-22 14:34:54","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21729","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21729"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21729\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21693"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21729"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21729"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21729"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}