Gearing up for Dwight d'Eon day Saturday at the Mariners Centre

By Tina Comeau

THE YARMOUTH VANGUARD

NovaNewsNow.com

Those gearing up for Saturday’s Dwight d’Eon day at the Mariners Centre on Saturday have been told to prepare for thousands of people.

Possibly 4,000 to 6,000 of them.

On Saturday d’Eon, who is in the Top 4 of Canadian Idol, will be home for the morning – as all of the remaining Idol contestants branch out to their hometowns this week.

A rally in d’Eon’s honour will be held on the grounds of the Mariners Centre. The free event will also be filmed by CTV for footage to be aired on Canadian Idol.

The event will see d’Eon performing a few songs with his band Never. There will be presentations by the local municipal units, an autograph session and possibly a short Q&A session.

D’Eon, of West Pubnico, is expected to be driven up to the site at around 11 a.m., or shortly before. People are being encouraged to show up around 10 a.m. And they’re being encouraged to bring along their Dwight d’Eon signs.

You can expect to see a lot of d’Eon shirts in the crowd too. At Kim’s Custom Embroidery on Hawthorn Street, they’ve been busy churning out hundreds of t-shirts this week. Steve Surette says they’ve gone through thousands of letters, with ‘Dwight Rocks’ being the most popular saying.

As for Saturday’s event at the Mariners Centre, the local producers of this event say they’ve been told by the network that in rural areas similar in size to this one, past rallies in past seasons for Idol finalists have attracted around 3,000 to 5,000 people.

The buzz on Friday was that the event in Yarmouth might even draw more.

Organizers were hoping the weather cooperates on Saturday, but the event will go ahead rain or shine. A tent has been erected to protect the stage area where d’Eon and Never will perform a few songs.

Normally for an event of this size, organizers would have around six months of lead up time. Word of this event only came a week ago, and things didn’t really become definite until Tuesday night when it was known that d’Eon had advanced from the Top 5 to the Top 4.

In addition to the activities happening on the stage, there will be items for sale on Saturday with proceeds going to the Ronald McDonalds House Charities. Canadian Idol has selected this charity to support this year. It will be building a family retreat house in Vancouver to support families whose children have to undergo medical treatment.

As for d’Eon, when he heads back to Toronto for the Top 4, he and the other finalists will get to work with Paul Anka, who will mentor them leading into “Salute to the Standards,” the theme of Monday’s show.

The Idol hopefuls will perform two songs each. Canadian Idol has released the songs the Idols will perform, but not who will be performing them.

Fever (Elvis Presley)

Unforgettable (Nat King Cole)

I've Got It Bad And That Ain't Good (Mel Torme)

Mack The Knife (Robbie Williams)

When You're Smiling (Louis Prima)

I Get A Kick Out Of You (Frank Sinatra)

Feeling Good (Michael Buble)

My Heart Belongs To Daddy (Ella Fitzgerald)

Meanwhile, aside from the rally at home on Saturday, d’Eon has another reason for being in the area this week. On Friday he graduated from the Nova Scotia Community College in Dartmouth where he was enrolled in the recording arts program. D’Eon missed his graduation because he was in Toronto for Idol.



Watch NovaNewsNow.com and the Yarmouth Vanguard for coverage of Saturday’s events.