By Rachel Mergen, North Iowa Times
On May 21, American Idol viewers decided on the next winner, who would be given the opportunity to start a career that most can only dream of. That winner was a 20-year-old woman, the first to achieve such an accomplishment from Iowa—Maddie Poppe.
Todd and Nick Larson, of McGregor, could not be more thrilled to hear the news, as they are proud to claim Maddie as family. Maddie is the cousin of Todd and his son Nick, with her grandfather being siblings with Nick’s grandfather.
“We were kind of expecting it,” Todd stated about hearing his cousin would be taking the American Idol stage. He told the story of how Maddie, who is a native of Clarksville, auditioned for The Voice in 2015, but was rejected.