After all is said and done, the bottom line remains... as sung by ABBA:
The winner takes it all
The loser has to fall
It's simple and it's plain
Why should you complain...?

Congrats to the winners.
We love and respect you.

Somewhere Over the Rainbow is always sang beautifully by Michelle Smukowski. I worked with Michelle and seen her on stage. She has a true talent and love to see her with us in LA, Cali. Maybe in my next project.

Congrats again

Josh

Well I suppose we could take everyone with Talent out and really just let everyone sing and give them a trophy. That way no one will feel bad about losing. Is there a chance next year the marine biologist could sing the title track to Free Willy? That would definetly be worth a trophy.

Hey JUSTAFATFARMER All I hear you say is WAA! WAAA!.You must go around crying for a living and you do a good job.Stop trash talking and grow up you Pimple.

Seriously? This just goes to show that things will never change. The beautiful and talented people of the world will always be suject to the hurtful words of the less fortunate. You go girl, win your contests, keep singing, and good luck at everything you choose to do. Please know that most of our cities residents have better things to do than talk trash. Too bad the ones that don't have internet access.

justafarmer- Obviously if you had read the article, it mentions that she works in a jewelry store, so I guess she doesn't enter contests for a living. Who could live off of $1000 prize anyway? That comment is quite amusing.

How is entering a contest not fair to the others? A contest is: 1. a race, conflict, or other competition between rivals, as for a prize. 2. struggle for victory or superiority. Obviously in a contest the best will win. That seems pretty fair to me. If the others were better, they would have won.

Also, just another comment. I'm really trying to figure out if you are the winner's stalker or competition. You're obviously doing your research by posting a link to a completely different story.

There are so many talented singers/musicians whose only chances to play before an audience are contests such as these. I enjoy making the rounds of county fairs for this wonderful entertainment. I've noticed on a few occasions repeat perfromances. I've been following these posts and maybe I've seen Johanna92 or justafarmer at those times. If so, you were probably pretty darn good! Keep trying.... Belittling the winners isn't very becoming. You could be the next winner and you wouldn't like it.

I happen to know that 5 of the contestants in the Rock County contest were also in other fair contests this summer. It is not uncommon for singers to enter multiple contests because they are usually only held in the summer and tend to overlap each other from auditions through preliminary rounds. They have no way of knowing in advance what the outcome will be, and they have to see it through once they start. There are NO RULES against this, and it is ridiculous to single out this one woman for doing what many others have done. She apparently didn't win the first contest, as was stated above. She may not win the third contest, either. In fact, there are 2 others in the semi-final round of the Walworth contest that were in the Rock County contest, so what happens if they win Walworth? Is that ok? In my opinion, yes it is ... but I'm sure you would find fault with that too. MOVE ON ... she entered Rock County, you entered Rock County. She won, you didn't. Enter again! Maybe next year you can win and someone will trash YOU all over the web for some nonsensical reason that is not part of the rules and degrade your degree. You're not making Rock County look very attractive.

Justafarmer.. I checked the link you provided and I see that there are only a couple of actual Walworth County residents listed as contestants. I don't get why this is getting to be such a big deal.

The Rock County Fair website doesn't have the rules posted online, but if you read the Walworth County rules for the contest they state that you can't be a union musician or have your talent be your principle source of income. Having talent and stage presence and the nerve is a gift from God and I thank those who enter for sharing. I would hate to be a judge.

I don’t agree with Johanna for some of what she says, it was a little harsh. But it seems like that winner does this for a living. Is it really fair to the rest?
She now moved to the next county contest, click here to see.
http://www.walworthcountyfair.com/2009/p...

Isn't it funny that Johanna92, the whiner hasn't been on for awhile? Maybe she's finally looking for another singing contest in another county. I hope all the negative remarks are over with. I'm glad for the girls who won. They deserved it! Now we can move on....

Hey Johanna WAAA! WAAAAAAAAAA! You can always try again next year you sore loser.

My opinion may not mean much because I am from Omro, but let me give a few observations. This came up at a fair in Oshkosh. I think the observation that because the woman from Cudahy is an entertainer, airgo she shouldnt be in an entertainment contest is wrong. If the woman entered a Dolphin training contest or Lake Michigan water testing contest, I would understand the complaints. Secondly, I tend to think we live in too much of a fairness world. If the Marine Biologist failed at training one Dolphin, would she quit? Or if she misidentified a form of plankton, would she quit?

My goodness, jealously certainly isn't very becoming when it rears it's ugly head. What are County Fairs for? Raising money for the County... Who's invited to attend...? Everyone - no matter where you are from. Are the Gatlin Brothers from Rock County? Should they HAVE to be...? No. Why not stop nit-picking and belittling others you don't even know and show a little respect and encouragement for these young winners who deserve it? Their background, education, and hometown have absolutely nothing to do with how extremely talented they are as singing artists.
I live in Walworth County and have never heard of such nonsense as discriminating against who should be able to enter and win a contest strictly by where they live!
Thank you Rock County and 4-H for a fair, unbiased, and entertaining STAR Contest and great County Fair!

Johanna92, do you serve cheese with that whine? Why can't you let go of this? Oh wait, I think I get it. You have a friend/relative who was in that contest and didn't win. Now its "sour grapes". Anyone can enter contests anywhere and as often as they wish. Go ahead, feel free to try it. Get a life!

Cockerspanielfan I agree with you. Having an opinion about how the contest is run and what the rules should be is one thing. But when someone resorts to insulting the contestants and/or winners in a personal way, then the line is crossed. I don't think we would want to listen to people who got up on the stage for the very first time that day to compete in a contest. Obviously, anyone who enters a singing contest comes from a genre of people who have had some sort of experience singing in their life. They may be in a choir, in school chorus, in shows, or competing in contests....many of which are put on by the school music departments and county 4th of July festivities, etc. The 8-12 division winner states she's been in this contest 3 times. One of the 13-17 winners was in Riverfest Idol, as was the 18+ winner. I highly doubt the other 13-17 division winner just happened to stop on by the next state to enter her very first contest. My guess is the reason 4-H doesn't limit the scope of contestants so drastically is because they wouldn't have very many entrants if they did. But I bet they would still have Johanna.

I think if you were not at either show to hear them sing the whole song you really can't judge. I think all of the winners and the people that didn't win have an amazing talent. By the way contests are contests, not life or death, if these people love to sing and be on stage that is their choice (no different than people that sing or play in a band). If they sing well enough to win 10 contests, yeah!!! They made money doing what they love to do. If the rules do not state that you have to reside in the county than insulting the participants is uncalled for. I heard the girls say they would sing(perform for free) they love it that much. I think it takes a lot of heart and nerve to get up on stage and compete in front of a crowd. I'm proud of anyone that can do that!

Wow johanna92, you sound like the biggest, most immature sore loser there is. I don't know anything about this competition, but read the article. The winners were chosen, obviously because they were talented. The way you put down people is just absurd. I just have some words of advice...Grow up, karma can really come back around to bite you.

Cowhand, I was just thinking the same thing! So the rules should state: (a) must be from Rock County (b) can't have entered any other contests (c) must have a particular career choice. Is this person actually stating that this contest will help the careers of a marine biologist, veterinarian and food critic but not a musical theater major? Something's fishy.

Wow, I can't believe what I'm reading here. This johanna person seems to have a real problem. She (he?) managed to cut down one of the winner's choice of college degree and career path, all because she won a contest? It looks to me like 3 of the 4 winners were not from Rock County. I wasn't at the contest but was there for the Gatlin concert and got to see them all perform. I thought all 4 of them were exceptional and I didn't care where they were from. I'm actually embarassed to be from the same area as someone with such a sour attitude that they insult someone's college degree and I would like to apologize on their behalf. To all the winners, you did an amazing job and have real talents. Don't be discouraged by the Negative Nelly who was probably your competitor.

Let's get real now. Some of these people (like 'rickwantsmoney' said) go to any and all types of fairs until they find one they can win at. Even a not-so-talented person can go to 100 county fairs and maybe win one. It's all about odds.

Just like someone who's played sports professionally cannot sign up and play for a college team, maybe the 'talent' in these local fairs should come from that county, or surrounding local areas. And entrants should be disqualified if they have entered too many contests.

Someone from Cudahy is obviously fair-hopping, and trying to steal the show from the local talent. She was successful this time, on probably her hundredth try. (I was not impressed by her.)

These other (younger) girls have real life ambitions: marine biologist, veterinarian, food critic. The wannabe 'musical theater' person isn't going to make a career or reputation by trotting around Wisconsin counties and winning two contests - out of how many?

The contests should be restricted to locals and contest-hoppers should be disqualified.

It's over nad done with. Why can't you whiners just let it go. It's not going to change things right now anyway.

12dreams I think that's a bit much. Sounds like your had to sit and think those out a little bit. Like I said, if you read my original post, I started it off with "no offense" but as usual, people on here have to take it to the next level. It was a comment. MOVE ON!

cockerspanielfan did you hear the sound clip on 'CLO yesterday??? It was nothing less than amazingly bad. I first thought I had picked up a clip from an Idol joke show...

How about we only let them sing if they have 4 "H's" in their names.

I think the contestants SHOULD be from Rock County and Rock County only!

I think that all the people that won deserved it! Maybe next year they should call it the Rock County and Surrounding Areas Star Contest. I don't disagree with the decision to let anyone participate and I do agree it brings more people to our community. The only change I wish they would make is to have all of the competition (even auditions) on the grand stand stage. I think fair goers that are interested in the up and coming talent would like to see the whole process and all the competitors.

It's obvious someone wants the competition drastically narrowed. Let's guess why. If you want to showcase local talent, hold a local talent show. Charge admission. Donate the proceeds to 4-H. If you want to hold a competition where the best talent wins, then ... oops, that's what is already being done. I was at the contest and saw locals featured at the final competition between songs, singing the anthem, and again last night. It looks like you can't please everyone but I would like to see things stay the way they are because the most important thing for the local economy is to bring others in and get some revenue going here. Great job to the 4-H organization for being a major revenue generator in this area.

Are all the animals that are entered for judging only from Rock County?

If you want to get real picky, how about this: You have to be from Rock county and you have to sing rock music. After all, it's not the Country County Fair.

We are just never happy are we? Congrats ladies~ I am sure your families are very proud of you!

I love how someone states their opinion on here and people always take it to the next level.

thetruth - There is a HUGE difference between a county fair and professional sports. So that doesn't even really compare.

What I was trying to say is that the fair gives our county the chance to show off OUR talent. I said nothing about the people coming to the fair having to be from Rock County. Each county has their own fair so that each county can give their residents a chance to showcase themselves and the things they may be involved in. That's the whole point is to show people who may not be from here what our county is all about.

I suppose you want only patrons of the fair to come from Rock County too?

I agree with letting anyone who wants to compete in these contests. They, along with all their families and friends, paid admission to get in and we should be happy they are coming to Rock County to participate. Additionally, it is called "Rock County 4-H Fair STAR singing contest" not "Rock County resident STAR singing contest."
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Taking some of the reasoning of the posters on this article further, does this mean in golf you only think United States citizens should compete in the US Open or only British citizens should compete in the British Open? Or in tennis, only US citizens compete in the US Open, French residents compete in the French Open, and Australian citizens compete in the Australian Open?

I agree with those who say Rock County Fair means ROCK Country Fair, otherwise it just drags in "professional Karaokers" from other areas. Watch the movie "Duets" and you'll know what I mean. There are people who actually go around the country signing up for every contest they can find and try to win them all. If you want to VISIT the fair and live in Bumrush, North Dakota, welcome. If you want compete in the contests, your address should be within county borders.

I live in Winnebago county in IL, but I work here in Janesville. I come to the Rock County fair every year, along with a lot of people from my town in Winnebago County, as I believe that the Rock County fair is a very nice fair that I enjoy going to with my children. My husband sings and has competed in the Star contest previous years, I personally would NOT go to the fair if they put restrictions on where people can be from to compete in competitions. I think that is very descriminatory. I get that you want to see people from your own county "Shine" but you should actually be proud that your county offers something that allows people from all over to showcase their talents as some counties, such as Winnebago don't offer something like that.

I'm not saying that people around us shouldn't be able to celebrate with us, but I would say that this is why each individual county has it's own fair...to showcase THAT county's talent. I don't think it's necessarily fair for people who aren't from our area to come and compete just because they want to win a singing contest. I think it defeats the purpose of having the ROCK COUNTY FAIR. You know that these people from Illinois that compete more than likely don't come to Janesville for anything any other time. And do you see people from Illinois coming in to compete in any other contests at the fair? No.

I agree with KelJo85. It's not like this contest is meant to be a springboard for any huge career...it's meant to be a fun contest for those who choose to participate for a chance to win $1,000. At the very least, contestants should live in the WJVL listening area. Most certainly, the young woman from Cudahy does not. I'm not saying that she didn't deserve to win, I wasn't there, but would some of these competitors come to the Rock County Fair if they weren't competing in the contest? Probably not.

You're kidding right? Wow, talk about short sighted. Maybe look at it as a regional celebration? If you want Rock country to grow into new areas, you have to look outside your county lines for both talent and opportunity.

I totally agree. I think that they should come from Rock county to be able to enter. I mean this is a ROCK county celebration right?

Sammi Tracy was from Rock County! But it wasn't against the rules not to be.

No offense but why are the winners of the Rock County Fair's singing contests always from Illinois? Shouldn't we have people representing that are actually from OUR county?