Erie native and Air Force veteran Leah Fox, singing our national anthem before Game 2 of the 2019 World Series in Houston, TX.
Without further ado, your Idiotville feel-good story of the week:
https://www.goerie.com/sports/20191023/erie-native-fox-to-sing-national-anthem-at-world-series
Let’s just get this out of the way: Leah Fox is probably the most interesting Erieite you’ve never heard of – or, hadn’t heard of until this week. Chances are, you’ve heard someone from Erie would be singing in front of a rabid stadium of Houston Astros fans before Game 2 of this year’s World Series.
That’s just one slice of it, though. Did you know you’ve probably seen Fox sing on TV even before this week? According to the GoErie article, she’s sung in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. I know you love the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. Everyone loves it. Whether you watch it with your kids (me) or through hungover eyes while chugging coffee and debating getting up to find the remote until that goofy parade slowly wins you over enough to stay on the couch (also me), you’ve seen the parade.
So, Fox is a professional singer? Not exactly. She graduated with a musical theatre degree and moved to New York City, did that for a few years, then woke up one day and decided to join the Air Force. That was earlier this year and she’s already singing solo in front of giant stadiums in Houston.
She graduated from high school barely ten years ago and already, her story has a little bit of everything. A kid growing up in our hometown with big dreams, finds enough encouragement to take it to the next level, finds success but feels a sense of duty pulling her towards serving her country, followed by even more success.
I’ve seen documentaries with less appealing plots than that. To me, stories like Leah Fox’s are a reason to love it here. No, she didn’t stay in Erie. But she grew up here. She found enough success to have sung in front of over 50,000 people and a national TV audience before the age of 30.
By the way, in case you didn’t watch her sing the anthem (shame on you), if I were judging on a scale from Roseanne to Whitney Houston – Leah’s rendition was much closer to the latter.
Yes, I think Erie is a great place to live, work and play. Maybe it isn’t for everyone, though. That’s fine. If you decide to leave, I’ll be the one wishing you well and hoping Erie prepared you for whatever comes next, and wishing you accomplish half of what Leah Fox already has.
Idiotville 
yay!
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