USA TOWN CENTER 1220 FOX RUN AVE.
Noon Tunes at Courthouse Square
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May 29: Strawberry Whine
BUSINESS NEWS A2 | POLITICS A6 | PUBLIC NOTICES A8 | OBITUARIES A12 SPORTS B1 | EDUCATION B7 | FOOD & ENTERTAINMENT B11
2022 — APA DIVISION D GENERAL EXCELLENCE DESIGNATION — 2023 COVERING LEE COUNTY, ALABAMA Vol. 16, No. 33 Opelika, Alabama Thursday, May 23, 2024 Your hometown newspaper created 'for local people, by local people.'
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Bryson brings home the cheese! PHOTO BY ROBERT NOLES | THE OBSERVER Bryson McGlynn, pictured center, is shown with his parents, Mike and Shannon McGlynn. The Fox Run sixth-grader took home a prize package which included $100,000 cash, Viking kitchen appliances, cookware, utensils and more. The family will also enjoy an all-inclusive California beach resort vacation Bryson received as prize for winning the first challenge of season nine of the FOX TV cooking competition MasterChef Junior.
Local Memorial Day events set
Local culinary prodigy wins MasterChef Jr. season nine BY ANITA STIEFEL ANITAS@OPELIKAOBSERVER.COM
OPELIKA — The Cheese Curd did it! Lee County’s own Bryson “Cheese Curd” McGlynn is America’s MasterChef Junior, a title he earned by competing on and ultimately winning season nine of the FOX TV cooking show, hosted by world-renowned Chef Gordon Ramsay. On part two of the season nine finale, which aired Monday, May 20, Bryson won the coveted MasterChef Junior trophy and a cash prize of $100,000 along with a complete professional grade Viking kitchen appliance package, including a state-of-the-art range, refrigerator, cookware and more, as well as a utensil and bakeware package from Oxo. From 12 original contestants ages 8 to 11, the three finalists were 11-year-old Michael from New Smyrna, Florida; 10-year-old Remy from Hollywood, Florida; and Bryson, from Opelika, who was 11 during filming of the show. For the final challenge, the young See CHEESE CURD, page A5
The Gogue releases 2024-25 artist lineup
Members of the Opelika Fire Department are pictured during last year’s Memorial Day wreath laying ceremony in Opelika.
For details about this year’s events, see page A2.
PHOTO BY ROBERT NOLES | THE OBSERVER
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AUBURN — The Jay and Susie Gogue Performing Arts Center at Auburn University has announced the complete lineup for its upcoming 2024–25 performance season. Officially released at the Gogue Center’s May 16 season announcement at the Walter Stanley and Virginia Katharyne Evans Woltosz Theatre, the 2024–25 season schedule features 27 performances, including multiple-night runs of Broadway hits
PHOTO CONTRIBUTED TO THE OBSERVER
CONTRIBUTED TO THE OBSERVER
“Dear Evan Hansen,” “MAMMA MIA!” and “Hadestown,” jazz icon and musical innovator Herbie Hancock, country
music royalty Rosanne Cash and Kathy Mattea, and the world premiere of a new work created See GOGUE, page A3
O O
Free outdoor concerts every Tuesday night, 7 p.m. at Opelika Municipal Park.
May 28 - Dave Potts Band