Drew Wright is still alive and in the top five of Canadian Idol and will be coming home on Aug. 22.
John Gabriele, the local merchant who has been spearheading the promotional campaign for Wright during his tenure on the CTV reality show, said the singer will be taking the stage on Hurontario Street on Aug. 22 for a free concert.
The show starts at about 5:30 p.m. and Gabriele said the event will be shown on television if Wright makes it into the top four of the competition.
He is hoping more than 10,000 people flock to downtown Collingwood for the event and encourages them all to bring signs and banners supporting Wright.
Gabriele said that CTV is also looking at once again filming residents whose homes and businesses are decorated in support of the local singer.
"Do up your windows, do up your cars," he said.
Wright performed a free concert at The Station on July 7 to more than 3,500 people.
The Collingwood singer stayed alive in the Canadian Idol competition on Tuesday despite being in the final three contestants.
Earl Stevenson and Amberly Thiessen joined Wright in the bottom three and it was Thiessen who was sent home.
On Monday, the Idol contestants sang Canadian rock songs with Wright doing his version of That Song, by Big Wreck. The group was mentored by Canadian rock band Simple Plan.
Judges Jake Gold and Zack Werner were once again not impressed with Wright's performance.
Werner said he wasn't a big fan when Wright was trying to show his versatility and he wasn't a fan of this performance.
"I just didn't like it," Werner said.
Gold said he worked on the song Drew sang and felt the band was "getting ahead of him."
Sass Jordan said she somewhat agreed with Gold.
"I don't disagree with that. There was just a couple of lines where you were cutting it off a little too short but when you got to that soft part, Oh my God, that was the money," said Jordan.
Judge Farley Flex said Wright must show more emotion.
"I thought your voice sounded really good but I agree with these guys, though," said Flex. "You have a particular niche that I think you need to really thrust yourself through and figure it out. You're an emotional guy but you don't push to the edge for some reason, I don't know what it is. You've got to try, I've said it before, you've got to be a little more animated."
Wright received some support this week from Simcoe County Warden Tony Guergis.
"I truly believe that the strength of Simcoe County is our people and this is a great example of that philosophy at work," said Geris. "Drew exemplifies the spirit of individuals who make this a great place. I congratulate him on his success and I encourage Simcoe County residents to support Drew as he continues his climb."
