Talent contest crowns winner

The culmination of the search for the best local singer took place Thursday at the St. Joseph County Grange Fair, where Centreville’s Autumne Keifer captured the River Country Has Talent crown.
A probation officer and magistrate for St. Joseph County, the 35-year-old Keifer performed Carrie Underwood’s “Before He Cheats” and followed up with Martina McBride’s “A Broken Wing.”
The three-person final Thursday also featured first runner-up Jennifer Lochotzki, 35, a Three Rivers native and Elkhart resident, and 20-year-old Courtney Hollenbeck, a Centreville resident.
Lochotzki, who qualified for the finals at the Burr Oak Heritage Days, performed “Titanium” and “I Told You So,” while Hollenbeck chose “Your Song” and “Temporary Home.”
The three performed prior to the grandstand’s headline attraction, the Dani Jamerson Band.
Like Hollenbeck, Keifer qualified through a performance at Centreville’s Covered Bridge Days back in June.
Fair officials said they were pleased with the popularity of River Country Has Talent, which got off to a slow start in early June but gained considerable momentum as the summer festival season unfolded throughout the county.