Last year's Fargo Star finals were pretty good for Brett Pauly.
Not only was the hunky country crooner voted the winner that April 2010 night in The Hub, but he also met the woman he's going to marry after Fargo Star was over.
And it wasn't one of the - seemingly - gaggle of women in the crowd who cat-called the singer and his tight-fitting jeans during his Fargo Star performance. Rather, the love connection came after the finals, in The Hub's Cadillac Ranch country bar.
In that bar, Pauly, who will be performing and judging at Saturday night's Fargo Star finals in The Venue, saw Jill Wittenburg, a friend of a mutual friend.
"She was out on the dance floor dancing with somebody, and I walked up and asked if I could take over," Pauly says.
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During the dancing and talking afterward, people kept congratulating Pauly. Finally, Wittenburg asked what was going on, and he explained about his Fargo Star win.
"She didn't know anything about it," Pauly says. "She basically liked the cowboy outfit I was wearing, not so much the music."
He says they've been inseparable ever since. Last month, he proposed; she said yes. And they're expecting a baby girl, due in August.
As for Pauly's singing, he hasn't had as much luck. While his reign as Fargo Star offered him some minor celebrity status and a few more singing gigs, it didn't help his chances with "American Idol."
Pauly tried out for "Idol" during last year's auditions in Milwaukee. But he never made it past the first group round and said he could tell by the expressions on the producers' faces that his group didn't have the "look" the show was searching for.
It's all good, though. Pauly and Wittenberg found each other. And they'll soon became parents of a little girl.
Maybe she will be a future Fargo Star.
Readers can reach Forum Features Editor Robert Morast at (701) 241-5518
