Farmington Idol

Farmington Idol is a localized live contest held every year in downtown Farmington, as the Founders' Festival equivalent of a localized American Idol. It is hosted annually by the local downtown area's Zap Zone, and often immediately precedes the parade. This article details events surrounding the 2010 season.

Content
The contestants sang (and instrument played) their hearts out in the blistering heat, while the camera crews risked second-degree burns even with 50 SPF suntan lotion on. Covers of "Viva la Vida" by Coldplay and "Hard to Handle" by the Black Crowes were among many of the songs that featured. In the end, the popular vote for Farmington Idol 2010 went to Angelica Payne. Nevertheless, the judges decided that Jenny Fernandez was their favorite. So in a way, there were actually two winners.

As the final score tallies were being counted, Miss Oakland County performed her own version of "Orange Colored Sky."

Tryouts
Soon after the Miss Farmington Pageant, Zap Zone hosted the tryouts for Farmington Idol. Most of the contestants that tried out did in fact make it into the final contest. SWOCC interns were there to film the event, though not with much enthusiasm. That is, until a violent thunderstorm killed all power to the building. Both SWOCC interns and Zap Zone staff worked together to ensure that mass panic did not ensue inside the building. A severe thunderstorm outside reached near-derecho levels of high speed, and fears abounded of a tornado hitting the area.

Event itself
The SWOCC staff arrived with the big van and a few other vehicles to a very crowded downtown area. Tables and what-not were everywhere. The Dozerfleet founder, unpleasantly surprised to learn that nobody had bothered to keep a sunscreen supplied in the van that "had it all," went to the nearest store that had some and bought Bullfrog SPF 50 sunscreen. However, the crew got badly burned anyway. Setup of cables was done without too terribly much difficulty.

There were a few breaks in-between contestants and phases of the judging process, which allowed staff to hide in the shade whilst keeping one eye on the equipment at all times. Take down was a bit more of a chore, as some equipment jammed in place and cameras were being knocked over by the wind along with entire tables. Yet the heat of that day was dwarfed only by the intense heat of the Founders' Festival Parade that happened one day later.

SoaT rating
The following is an estimate of worst-case scenario public money spent on the project. Due to the low score, Farmington Idol is probably not going to be a high-priority topic for elections.