PORT ANGELES — Twenty-two acts ranging from songs to a speed recitation of the countries and capitals of Europe will take the stage at the fourth annual Port Angeles High School Benefit Talent Show at 7 p.m. Saturday.
Money raised by entry fees and an auction before the show will provide money for medical expenses for the family of Liz Romero, who died of a brain tumor in December.
Silent auction
A silent auction will begin at 6:15 p.m. before the show begins at Port Angeles High’s Performing Arts Center at 304 E. Park Ave.
Tickets for the show will be sold at the door the night of the show only.
The cost of tickets is $8 per adult, $5 per student and $20 for a family of four.
“We’ve got a lot of variety this year,” said Elizabeth Helwick, 17, Port Angeles High School senior and stage manager for the show.
In past years, the talent show has drawn acts from all ages and experience levels in the North Olympic Peninsula.
This year, the talent is about evenly split between high school students and the rest of the community, student organizers said.
Unusual acts
Some of the more unusual acts include a singer who accompanies herself with percussion on cups and a girl with the ability to recite all of the European countries and their capitals in 60 seconds or faster, she said.
The 2012 talent show winner was Port Angeles 13-year-old Sharona Klahn, who sang KT Tunstall’s song “Black Horse and the Cherry Tree.”
The annual talent show is a fundraiser organized by Port Angeles High’s Leadership Class to help an area family in need.
To choose the recipient, each of the class’ 30 students nominated a person in the community experiencing financial difficulties, usually because of a medical condition.
Class members then voted for the person they felt could benefit most from some help.
In November, the leadership class selected Liz Romero and her family as the beneficiaries of the 2013 talent show.
Romero died Dec. 15 after a three-year battle with an aggressive brain tumor called a glioblastoma multiforme. She was 60.
The students were devastated to learn that Romero died soon after her selection, and the students chose to hold the talent show benefit in her memory, Helwick said.
‘Can still make a difference’
“We could still make a difference for the family,” she said.
Romero was born in 1952 in Montreal, Quebec, and moved to Port Angeles in 1960 with her family.
She is survived by five children, each of whom graduated from PAHS: Sean Romero in 1995, Kari Romero in 1997, Stacy Romero in 2003, Todd Romero in 2004 and Danny Romero in 2009.
In the 2010 inaugural talent show, $12,000 was raised for Tammy Goodwin.
Goodwin died March 14, 2010, at the age of 47 after a long battle with a sarcoma, a cancer of the soft tissue.
In the show’s second year, Cornerstone Tabernacle Pastor Kevin Jones received $3,800 after suffering an aneurism because of a genetic heart condition.
The show raised $3,800 to help the family, and Jones and his family have since moved from the area.
The 2012 event raised more than $9,000 to help cancer survivor Camille Frazier, a Port Angeles para-educator.
Frazier currently is undergoing cutting-edge treatments to fight metastasized breast cancer and said she plans to attend this year’s show.
All proceeds from the show are donated to the designated recipient.
Expenses are paid by the Associated Student Body general fund, money that is raised by the students themselves, and is not reimbursed.
For more information on the show or to donate to the silent auction, contact Ward at 360-565-1529 or rward@portangelesschools.org.
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Reporter Arwyn Rice can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5070, or at arwyn.rice@peninsuladailynews.com.
