The competition was as fierce as ever, and after an exciting night of top-tier local talent, a new winner of Quest for the Best has been crowned.
Cynthia Vanuden took home the top prize during Friday night’s event, emerging victorious after going head-to-head with repeat Quest winner Jaykob Ryll during the event’s now-traditional Battle Song. Vanuden had taken first place in the second set of the evening with a high-energy medley of songs by Queen, while Ryll had pumped up the audience with his version of Big & Rich’s country classic “Save a Horse (Ride a Cowboy)” which earned him the top spot of the first set. Facing off against each other across the Fort Frances Canadian Bass Championship stage, both performers were up to the task of singing this year’s battle song, Autograph’s “Turn Up the Radio,” but it was Vanuden that this year’s judges decided had taken the top spot of the evening.
Scoring her first Quest for the Best win, Vanuden said the evening was as exciting as performing at the event has ever been.
“I’m feeling a lot of adrenaline, honestly,” she said.
“Even being on the stage the first time was an out-of-body experience. It’s different than last year. I just felt good about it, but I was still not overconfident.”
Vanuden has been a volunteer choreographer for Fort Frances High School’s musicals for several years at this point, and she said her inspiration for a Queen medley came from working with FFHS students on “We Will Rock You,” a rock musical set to the English band’s oeuvre and FFHS’ musical for 2024.
“I did the high school musical choreography for “We Will Rock You,” and I saw Piper Lidkea sing [Somebody to Love], and I wanted to do it too,” Vanuden explained.
“But I didn’t just want to do Somebody to Love, I wanted to kick it up a notch and make it a crowd pleaser, so it was really fun.”
Even with her comfort with her chosen song, going up against a proven Quest champion can be nerve wracking, and Vanuden said she enjoyed getting to share the stage with Ryll as they faced off for the top prize.
“Jaykob has won not once, but I think twice, so he’s an amazing performer,” she said.
“He’s a bundle of energy. It was awesome to sit on stage with him, and I was honestly honoured because, yeah, he’s just a great guy.”
Vanuden and Ryll weren’t the only winners of the night. With a slate of almost 20 performers across two acts, Quest always has a bevvy of prizes to hand out to competitors. This year’s runner up for the first act was Damian Hunt, who rocked the tent with a cover of The Clash’s “I Fought the Law,” and the runner up for set two was Melissa Brady, with her version of “House of the Rising Sun,” made popular by The Animals.
Other prize winners Friday night included Alex Denby, who won the Dark Horse Award with his performance of Stan Rogers’ sea shanty “Barrett’s Privateers.” Jennifer Thorpe took home the Show Stopper Award with her – what else? – show stopping performance of Heart’s “Crazy on You,” and Junior Lazar was given the Rookie Award for their performance of “I’m Blessed.”
The Band Choice Award went to Victoria Lindel, who took to the stage with Fleetwood Mac’s classic “Dreams,” and Ryll also took home the People’s Choice for the first set, with Dave Miller rounding out the night’s winners by taking home the People’s Choice award for set two.
While the grand prize winner of the show doesn’t get to compete the following year, Vanuden said that as long as the organizers continue the tradition, she’ll be back to perform a song during Quest for the Best’s 2027 intermission.
“If they’ll let me,” she said.
“I have some songs that weren’t Quest songs, but they’re performance songs.”
