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Crowd worships hometown Idol
The fans fill a Sarasota street to cheer for Syesha Mercado s efforts on TV

Carol E. Lee
Published Wednesday, May 14, 2008 at 6:03 a.m.

Sarasota American Idol finalist Syesha Mercado s hometown fans crowded downtown to watch her sing in the nation s top-rated television show, as they have every Tuesday for the past two months.

Follow tonight s elimination show on heraldtribune.com while Thomas Becnel blogs live.

But this week was different. Mercado was performing as one of three finalists for the Idol mantle. Her viewing party was an image of fanatics with something to lose.

American Idol beamed from a two-story-tall, 30-foot- wide Jumbotron. A crowd of more than 350 people spilled into the blocked-off street. Sarasota s 70-year-old mayor did a headstand on a bar table for the celebrity news show Access Hollywood. Then she did it again on a stage in the street, as everyone chanted Sy-esh-a.

I m running on nerves, Mayor Lou Ann Palmer said at the party at Mattison s City Grille, sponsored by 107.9 WSRZ, SNN6 and the Herald-Tribune.

Fans nibbled on Syesha Specials -- from Que-Syesha (veggie and cheese quesadilla) to Pizza Mercado (four cheese). Donna Clarke wandered around campaigning for county tax collector.

Mercado s family was front and center.

It s been a long time since someone from our city -- Sarasota and Bradenton -- has made it big, said Mercado s cousin Cheral Wilcox, 51. It has brought the community together.

In Sarasota, Mercado, 21, is a native treasure.

She graduated from Booker High School in 2005. Her success has inspired local teenagers and turned adults who had never seen the show into diehard fans.

I didn t watch it before, Laura Lemmey, an 80-year-old retired librarian, said from her seat in the street. Tonight we re going to vote.

Fans vote via phone.

Sarasota Realtor Erin Reid has dialed in all seven of the show s seasons. For her, having a local to vote for is like having the stars align. It s not a TV show anymore, said Reid, 46. It s like I m involved with it.

Mercado s survival has been an inspiration for the community, with her having gotten this far on an ego-cutting show with 30 million viewers. She has lost her voice. She lost her good luck charm -- a quartz stone -- after making the Top 24. She has swallowed criticism from judges Paula Abdul, Simon Cowell and Randy Jackson for 10 weeks -- and now from celebrity gossip magazines.

Commentators in this week s People said Mercado could be an R&B pop singer a la Alicia Keys, but thought her look is better when it s all done up.

Shortly after 8 p.m., Mercado appeared on the big screen wearing a floor-length beaded gold gown to sing If I Ain t Got You by Keys.