Talents on display
By Steve Herring
Published in News on October 5, 2017 5:50 AM
Full Size
News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
Sophia Bean, second-grader at Meadow Lane Elementary, does a dramatic reading of "Down the Rabbit Hole" from "Alice in Wonderland" to place first in the solo novelty act portion of the K-2 talent show Wednesday night at the Wayne Regional Agricultural Fair.
Full Size
News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
Macon Bryan, 6, leaves the audience in stitches with his side-splitting brand of son-delivered dad jokes written, allegedly, by his mom.
Full Size
News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
Winners of the K-2 instrumental solo portion of the talent show stand on stage with their ribbons. From left, third place Shamir Hall, second place Maddie Brown-Reeves and first place Noah Carraway.
DUDLEY -- Cellphones and cameras popped up as the children took the stage Wednesday night in the K-2 talent show at the Wayne Regional Agricultural Fair.
Even the occasional traffic noise from U.S. 117 and the sound of jets flying overhead could not overcome the clapping and cheering.
Some of the children sang. Some danced. They played musical instruments, did dramatic recitations, and one even told jokes.
Macon Bryan, 6, a first-grader at Tommy's Road Elementary, asked the audience if they knew what kind of lights Noah had on the ark?
Floodlights.
"If you don't like the jokes, blame my mom," he said. "She wrote them."
Macon, who won second place in the solo novelty category, said he was just a little nervous standing before the crowd.
Asked if he was class clown Macon rolled his eyes and said no.
Macon said he enjoys telling jokes, but after the show he was ready to ride the Drop Tower and the bungie trampoline and eat some cotton candy.
"It was his idea to be a comedian for sure," mom Amy Batten-Bryan said. "He is like that wherever we go. He is very sociable, he can talk to anybody. We researched and found some jokes that fit him well and he adapted them to talk about himself or his sister or whatever fit the bill and what he thought would make it funnier."
He thinks he is a natural, she said.
She said Macon normally doesn't embarrass her.
"That's his dad," she said. "That is where he gets it from. I am probably more the censor."
Dad Mark Bryan said that his wife was not the funny one.
"Of course she's not. Who is the comedian in this family? Me," Macon said. "Who loves to tell jokes? Me."
Macon said his father is a clown.
"I couldn't believe he did it," Bryan said. "He said he wanted to do it at school in the talent competition. When he got up there he did well and they put him up here.
"You never know how they are going to do in front of an audience, but we really did well. I will say that Mama does screen my jokes because some of the ones he was going to tell, she wouldn't let us do. She is the joke screener."
The winners were:
Instrumental solo: First place, Noah Carraway, second grade, Meadow Lane Elementary, "Ode to Joy" keyboard; second place, Maddie Brown-Reeves, first grade, Fremont STARS Elementary, "God is So Good" keyboard; third place, Shamir Hill, second grade, Eastern Wayne Elementary, "Let's Get It On," drums.
Dance solo: First place, Camden Sullivan, first grade, Grantham Elementary, "Mom's Song"; second place, Julius Dillihunt, second grade, Wayne Prep, "Can't Stop the Feeling."
Novelty Act: First place, Sophia Bean, second grade, Meadow Lane Elementary, "Down the Rabbit Hole"; second place, Macon Bryan, first grade, Tommy's Road Elementary, comedian; third place, Ayden Quick, second grade, Spring Creek Elementary, puppetry.
Vocal solo: First place, Alaina Lancaster, first grade, Wayne Prep, "Animal Crackers"; second place, Julia Cox, second grade, Grantham Elementary, "How Far I'll Go"; tied for third place, Lana Dupree, kindergarten, Spring Creek Elementary, "Gethsemane" and Isabelle Holloman, second grade, Northeast Elementary, "How Far I'll Go."
Group dance: First place, Cooper Christie and Braden Bell, second grade, Eastern Wayne Elementary, "Whip and Nae Nae."
Group novelty: First place, Hannah Taylor, Delia Jacques, Willeah Hudson, Jaymee Simmons, Emmalynn Wischmann, Elaina Wiggins, Haven Rizzo, Abigail Wischmann and Willow Houston, "Geronimo," Meadow Lane Elementary.
Large vocal group: First place, Joshua Basnight, Ava Burns, Chad Craft, Daylah Diaz, Lilith Earll, Annaleice Floyd, Tessa Gerringer, Annalee Gonzales, Lyric Hagans, Trinity Hendrick, KeyMijah Lane, Layton Lopez, Sean Marshall, Carmela Molina, Fritz Rutledge and Zakaree Taylor, "Thank God for Kids," second grade, Meadow Lane Elementary.