Catalina Island News

Museum Sponsors Singing Contest

2009-07-24
Catalina Island Museum

If you like music and love Catalina, no doubt you've been known to hum, sing or whistle "26 Miles (Santa Catalina)", the song written and recorded by The Four Preps in the 1950s that sailed its way to the top of the charts.  In order to celebrate that classic song, the Catalina Island Museum is sponsoring its first ever singing contest!

It's simple to enter, just record a video of you and up to 3 friends performing "26 Miles."  Then log on to YouTube and upload it to the Museum's singing contest. The first round of competition is from Tuesday, July 14 through September 14.  A group of judges, including co-writer of "26 Miles," Bruce Belland, will then choose 10 semifinalists based on criteria like creativity, vocal performance and originality.  Each semifinalist will win an autographed CD by The Four Preps.  The Grand Prize Winner will be announced on October 4th and will win a three-day, two-night trip to Catalina with tours and the opportunity to perform "26 Miles" live at the annual Museum Telethon with Bruce Belland himself!  The annual Telethon is broadcast live on Catalina Cable TV and simulcast online thanks to the folks at ecatalina.com so the whole world can enjoy and participate in Catalina's history.

"Bruce is very excited about this contest and so are we," enthused museum director Stacey Otte.  "We feel it's a great way to celebrate a song so important to our history and remind the world how fun and unique Catalina's heritage is.  We hope the contest really goes 'viral' and gets folks excited.  We can't wait to see what people will come up with!"

For contest rules, song lyrics and details log on to our website. The museum is a private, nonprofit organization founded by community members in 1953.  The museum is located on the ground floor of the historic Casino Building and is open to the public daily, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.