Spokane, WA—First-time Bloomsday performers Wingspan, Air National Guard Band of the Northwest, was the crowd favorite in the sixth annual Best Bloomsday Entertainer contest, while Adrienne Bousquet finished second in the voting and last year’s winner Spare Parts took third.
Wingspan was located at Integrus near the intersection of Riverside and Cedar, where their rock music captured the fancy of Bloomsday runners, joggers, walkers and wheelers who were less than a mile into the seven-and-a-half mile course. 1,217 votes were cast in this year’s competition, an increase of 23% over last year.
“It’s great that more and more people are logging on to our web site to vote each year,” said Bloomsday Board Member Dori Robertson, who along with volunteer Laurel Warner organized the competition. “I’m beginning to think people enter Bloomsday just to be able to vote for a favorite band.”
Twenty-seven different groups or individual performers garnered votes as official Bloomsday entertainers this year. Besides Wingspan, Adrienne Bousquet and Spare Parts, performers who earned votes included (in order of placement on the course) the Cathedral Choir from Cathedral of Our Lady of Lourdes, Tropical Penguins (teen rock band), Too Many Men (popular variety), City of Ember (punk-rock), Good Ole Stuff (accordion & bass), Firecreek (country & rock), Specialty Music (Mobile DJ), Rhythm Envy (bucket band), Melvis & Loose Ends (wide variety), Sonic Death Ray (rock), NW Renaissance Festival (science fiction & fantasy actors with music), Small Town Nation (pop/punk), Camp Stix All-Star Blues Band (rockin’ blues), Spokane Christian Church Band (pop/rock/Christian), Crimson Resolve (alternative rock), Stranglers of Bombay (classic rock), Last Chance (original rock), SpoCon (science fiction & fantasy actors), Blue Grass Conspiracy (bluegrass & Americana), Random Generation (classic rock), Emerson, Smith & Bischoff (original instrumentals in a rock/funk style), Bre Abell (soloist/variety), Green Light Go (ska/punk/rock) and Finish Line Band (Christian light rock).
The top three vote getters in this year’s Best Bloomsday Entertainer contest qualify for prize money of $500, $300, and $200, with additional cash rewards paid out through random drawings. Wingspan has elected to donate their winnings to the Spokane Air Guard Booster Club at Fairchild Air Force Base.
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