Young performers will show their skills during the free KeizerFEST Teen Talent Show.

The show is on festival grounds at Keizer Rapids Park, running from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday, May 18. The event is hosted by Valor Mentoring of Keizer.

The competition was open to students from sixth grade to high school senior in the Salem-Keizer area.

A cash prize of $250 will be awarded to the outstanding soloist, outstanding original song and outstanding ensemble. The winner of the talent competition will get $700 with $500 going to the second-place finisher and $300 for third place.

Tim Davis of Valor Mentoring said young performers were selected for the show after submitting recorded auditions.

“Most of them have got themselves recorded” on Youtube or with an audio file, Davis said.

The performances are judged by local people with music backgrounds, including one Valor Mentoring employee who holds a master’s degree in music.

Davis said performances range from solo singers and bands to interpretative dance groups and solo instrumentalists.

In 2024, Reese Johnston, a senior at McNary High School, won the show with an original song, “Haunting Me.”

Lilliana Quiroz was second, singing a cover of the Miley Cyrus song “The Climb” and Grace Cobos won third, singing a cover of The Hunger Games song “The Ballad of Lucy Gray Baird.” A band called Postal was cited as the outstanding ensemble.

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