For more pictures of the Festival, go to Federation of Elvis Clubs in Australia
- Elvis Lives On Down Under
(Jaunted, January 10, 2007)
What do you get when a small town some six hours from Sydney decides it wants to make itself famous? You get an Elvis Festival in a place that has absolutely no link to the guy at all.
But if you're an Elvis fan that shouldn't stop you time-warping right this instant to Parkes in inland New South Wales, where as we speak the Parkes Elvis Festival is up and swinging. With Elvis impersonators on every corner, special Elvis movie screenings, even Elvis in the Park Markets, the four-day festival brings in a million dollars a year directly to the 10,000 member town (and generates eight times that indirectly), and that ain't peanuts!
It all culminates this weekend with the Elvis Sportsmans Dinner; dress is optionally smart casual, or rock 'n' roll. But is it a case of true Elvis devotion or a way to strip tourists of their bucks? You decide.
- Elvis festival gets Oz all shook up
(opodo.co.uk, January 10, 2007)
Fans of the king of rock 'n' roll are converging in New South Wales for a festival which is held in honour of their idol. Thousands of people are expected to turn out for the Elvis Festival 2007, with organisers proclaiming that this year's event will be the biggest ever. In total, it is hoped that around 6,000 people will attend, signalling a vast improvement on the numbers that made it to the first ever festival.
Just 200 people attended the first time around and were treated to a solitary concert. However, things have improved since then, with people coming from all over the world to be entertained by over 60 events.
Hotels in Parkes, where the festival is being held, report that they have been fully booked since the end of last year's festival. 'I think there's more Elvis fans nowadays than there used to be,' Robert Steel, president of the Elvis Revival Committee, told ABC News. 'I think they reckon Elvis is probably the most known person on the planet.' Recent research at the University of Wollongong found that the 2006 festival generated a massive AU$8m (£3.22m) for the local economy.
- Inside Australia: Elvis Lives in Parkes: Elvis gives life to a struggling small town
Larissa Dubecki, reviewer
(Sydney Morning Herald, January 10, 2007)
Type: Music, Documentary, Biopic
Channel SBS
Date Wednesday January 10
Time 8:00 PM
Parkes isn't what you'd call the usual setting for an Elvis sighting. The NSW country town is a fair hike from the American mid-west. Its struggling economy is not based in deep-fried peanut butter sandwiches and other delicacies from the King's cookbook of artery-hardening, roadkill-based treats, nor is it a fixture on the circuit of touring musicians.
That a small cabal of locals should decide to lift the region's flagging fortunes with a festival in the King's honour is remarkable enough; that it should, after many an obstacle and local antipathy, find traction and develop into an eagerly awaited highlight of the annual calendar, even more so.
Filmed in the same good humoured vein with which the festival is curated, Elvis Lives in Parkes provides a potted history of the festival, from early days when Elvis devotees Bob and Anne Steel first floated their idea to widespread disdain, to the triumph of last year's festival when hundreds of Elvis impersonators converged on the town on the second weekend of January.
It traverses the hindrances - bushfire, flood, financial loss, community indifference - and finds a couple of heroes in the process, including Steve Lennox, winner of the inaugural Elvis lookalike contest who went on to change his name to Elvis Lennox by deed poll ("and it only cost me seventy-five bucks") before fighting back from near-tragedy when an accident nearly claimed his foot and his Elvis swagger.
Summing up the turning of the tide is local mayor Robert Wilson, initially filmed talking gruffly in none too- positive tones about the festival, later seen dressed in full Elvis regalia greeting tourists off the train.
Highlights include the Elvis street parade, Elvis in the park, Elvis impersonator contests and the Elvis gospel church service. Elvis fans might find themselves hopping the first Chevy to get to Parkes in time for this weekend's celebrations; even those new to the Elvis lifestyle may find themselves developing a keen hip-swivel during viewing. ...
Not the only dish in town - Elvis in Parkes
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