This year the 13th Parkes Elvis Presley Revival Festival coincided with Elvis's birthday - January 7th-9th.

A special birthday - his 70th, no less.

The main features of the weekend were:

• a street parade, and a day of live Elvis music
• Elvis look-alike, sing-alike and move-alike contests
• gigs in various venues
• a tribute show by Mark Andrew
• a gospel service on the Sunday morning

Young Melbourne tribute artist Sean Spiteri won several prizes in the contests.

Mark Andrew gave a stunning performance at the "Elvis leaves his Mark" tribute show, going through several changes of costume from a fantastic wardrobe. The "suspension of disbelief" factor was very high (that is to say, we almost thought it was Elvis himself several times).

The very moving gospel service, held in the undercover Big W carpark, attracted a crowd of around 650 people. It was full of gospel singing, and video and sound clips, attesting to Elvis's spiritual side. Mark Andrew sang the medley from the 1968 Comeback Special starting with the song "I'm saved".

Mark Andrew at the Parkes Leagues Club

The highlights definitely were Mark Andrew's performance and the gospel service. The "people dressed in jumpsuits who shouldn't" phenomenon was very prevalent, but it came over as a well-intended rather than mockery of the King.