Poland Idol big attraction at today's Celebrate Poland festivities

POLAND

If you ask 14-year-old Maggie Schaefer about her favorite recording artists, don’t expect the usual teenage responses such as Justin Bieber, Katie Perry or Miley Cyrus.

“It’s jazz and oldies, and I’m into that kind of music,” the Poland Seminary High School freshman said.

Nevertheless, Maggie doesn’t just talk about such genres. She occasionally borrows from their practitioners’ songbooks, such as when she gave an audience her rendition of the Nina Simone song “Feeling Good.”

Her performance was part of Saturday’s Poland Idol contest, which was a major attraction during the second annual Celebrate Poland festivities that began Friday at and around Poland Village Town Hall, 308 S. Main St.

Sponsoring the two-day gathering was the Celebrate Poland Committee.

The contest was divided into elementary-, middle-, high-school and adult groups. Maggie was last year’s first-place finisher in the middle-school category with her version of the popular Etta James song “At Last.”

Miley Cyrus, though, is a favorite of 9-year-old Hannah Masucci, who treated listeners to her interpretation of Cyrus’ song “Butterfly.”

“It was easy for me,” Hannah, a Poland Union Elementary School fourth-grader, said after stepping off the gazebo.

If they weren’t taking in the musical sounds of their peers, many youngsters likely were exploring the more than 30 nearby vehicles that made up the Touch-a-Truck event, courtesy of the Rich Center for the Study and Treatment of Autism.

“The Touch-a-Truck is an opportunity for children of all ages, and even parents, to sit or climb on, explore and witness a variety of vehicles that make our community go,” explained Leah Wilson, the center’s events coordinator.

Vehicles included a crisis-response unit, dump trucks, tractors, dune buggies, golf carts, fire trucks, a limousine, two race cars and a fire truck that assisted at ground zero weeks after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Read more about the event in Sunday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.