Rain and lightning forced the county fair's inaugural Fair Idol contest to the day after the fair ended.

Twenty semi-finalists were due to vie for the finals and first prize in the Fair Idol contest Friday and Saturday night, the last nights of the Montgomery County Agricultural Fair.

Seventeen contestants performed before friends and fair officials at the fairgrounds Sunday.

"We had a really good crowd Friday night and Saturday night," said Marnie Adamson-Comanda, contest organizer, who said lightning caused concern at the community stage. "We were just worried about the safety with all the metal there."

Gaithersburg Mayor Sidney A. Katz, Scott Stancill of Stancill's Guitar Studio of Kensington and Cliff Chiet, vice president of sales for Post-Newsweek Media Inc. and publisher of The Gazette, Montgomery County, winnowed the group down to five finalists, then chose the first, second and third-place winners as a crowd of 100 cheered.

Wilbert Dennis, 32, of Montgomery Village, who uses "CJ" as his stage name, won the title with a performance of "My Way" by Frank Sinatra, she said. His first place performance earned him a certificate, gold medal and $300.

"Motivating. It's motivated me to pursue other things. Great things, let's put it like that," said Dennis, who said he aims to pursue a music career. "This for me was the step…I'm convinced that the beginning of what would be a fruitful career is at hand." Dennis, who is originally from Liberia and has lived in other countries, said he is honing his art.

Anita Bermudez, 26, of Germantown won second place, a silver medal, certificate and $200 singing "My All" by Mariah Carey.

Clarence Oscar "Oz" Smith, 55, of Rockville, won third place, a bronze medal, certificate and $100 performing "For Once In My Life" by Stevie Wonder.

Jasmine McNeil, 20, of Ashburn, Va., and Natalie Ruffner, 31, of Germantown, who also made the contest's top five, performed in the finals.

"We already have people calling in trying to get their names on the list for next year," said Adamson-Comanda.

Videos of Sunday's final performances should appear on the Montgomery County Agricultural Center's Web site www.mcagfair.com next week, she said.