The honors just keep coming for Helen Cavanaugh of Maple Lake. Cavanaugh, the winner of the annual talent contest at the Wright County Fair a month ago, brought home runner-up honors with her piano performance at Sunday’s talent contest sponsored by the Minnesota State Fair. She was declared the Open Division runner-up and received a $50 check.
Playing the piano has always been a part of her life, since Helen started playing for Maple Lake High School pep fests as a teenager. “How long have I been playing?” she laughed. “I say a lifetime.”
Helen said she plays at every opportunity, including at the Dining Site at Maple Manor. But she plays only by ear and doesn’t read music. “That seems to work good for me,” she said. “I play anything that I can hum or sing.”
For the county and state fairs, Helen first hummed and then figured out how to play “Hey, Good Lookin,” wearing a bright red outfit and hat that added to the exuberance she brought to the keyboard. Helen said she was nervous waiting for her four-minute performance as the 11th of 25 talent contestants on Sunday. But when she sat down to play, a heavenly breeze blew away any possibility that stage fright would be a factor.
“The funniest cool came over me,” she said. “It was like an ice cold breeze and I hit the ivories just like that.”
And from the audience reponse, Helen knew she had done well. “ They just screamed,” she laughed.
Helen’s summer of triumphs is even more amazing because of her recovery a year ago from a car crash at the intersection of Division and Oak in Maple Lake. That crash, which involved another driver failing to heed the stop sign on Oak, was cited as one of the reasons why the city pursued and obtained a four-way stop for that busy intersection. Helen, age 82, went through therapy for the injuries to her hand and feels fortunate to be able to play again, particulary in such talented company as she enjoyed at both the county and state fairs.
“I just give it all I’ve got,” she said.
But any attempt to repeat her award-winning run of this summer will have to wait for the summer of 2006.
“I’m going to wait a year,” Helen said. “I want to give someone else a chance because there are just so many talented people out there.
“And then, maybe I’ll try it again.”
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