Local talent show off their skills at DuPage County Fair

Nine-year-old Rick Stevenson has been dancing along to Michael Jackson music for roughly two-thirds of his short life.

"I like him because Michael just knows how to move to the music," the Naperville boy said Saturday shortly after finishing a high-energy routine of dance moves in honor of the late King of Pop.

Rick joined more than a dozen teens and tweens in bringing their A-games to the entertainment stage of the DuPage County Fair Saturday in its annual showcase of local talent.

The acts involved hip hop dance routines, piano pieces by Bach, magic tricks and an assortment of songs performed before parents and other onlookers.

Fifteen-year-old Nini Marchese of Lisle wasn't expecting to be the final competitor in the lineup, but the Benet Academy sophomore's performance of Vanessa Williams' "Save the Best for Last" was enough to win the first-place award in the senior division. Marchese will be competing on behalf of DuPage County in January at a statewide talent contest in Springfield.

"I didn't really plan to be last, but it just ended up that way," said Marchese, who's been performing at the DuPage County Fair talent show for each of the past four years. "Guess things worked out for the best."

Twelve-year-old Rachael Oliveros and her older sister, Stephanie, 15, had no idea they were going to even vie for one of the spots at Saturday's contest until their mother told them she had signed the pair up.

"At first the girls didn't seem too happy, but they came through just fine," said Espi Oliveros, their mother.

Both girls finished among the top four performers with their respective renditions of Bach piano pieces. In the end, however, it was Rachael who would take the top prize and chance to perform downstate, a feat that was met with a congratulatory fist-bump from her older sister.

"I'm very proud of her," Stephanie Oliveros said.