Dates 11 Jan – 15 Jan 2017 | Location Parkes, Australia | |
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Profiles | ||
Parkes elvis festival guitar fountain 2017
The Parkes Elvis Festival is an annual event celebrating the music and the legend of Elvis Presley held in early January in the Australian New South Wales regional town of Parkes. The first festival in 1993 was simply a one night performance attracting 300 attendees. From then, it has grown to become a five-day-long festival of all things Elvis. The Festival now attracts large numbers that briefly doubles the population of Parkes.
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Parkes elvis festival 2015
First event
The first Parkes Elvis Festival, held in 1992, was a one night event attracting 200 people. It was held at Graceland Restaurant to commemorate Elvis' birthday. Over the next few years more events were added and the festival was extended to two days with a few hundred people attending.
2005
By January 2005, the attendance had increased to 3,500 people.
2006
In January 2006, there was a 40 per cent increase with 5,000 seeing the festival and it injected an estimated $8 million into the Parkes economy.
2007
The 2007 festival had over 60 events and was held over five days. More than 6,000 visitors were estimated to have attended. A new world record was set for the most Elvis impersonators in one location. SBS Independent commissioned a half-hour documentary on the festival, Elvis Lives in Parkes, which was first aired on Australian television on 10 January 2007.
2008
Featuring over 80 events, the 2008 Festival attracted in excess of 8,000 people.
2009
The 2009 Festival became the biggest yet with a huge crowd of 9,500 enjoying the Elvis festivities. The King's Castle - a collection of genuine Elvis memorabilia, was introduced in 2009 adding a new dimension to the Festival. The collection is now open year round.
2010
The Festival attracted record crowds again with 12,000 people enjoying over 140 events across 5 days.
2011
The 2011 Festival attracted 15,000 people. There were over 150 events across the 5 days. The Kings Castle - a collection of genuine Elvis Memorabilia in Parkes moved to a new and improved complex allowing more visitors to see the collection.
2012
The 2012 festival started on 11 January 2012. It features a guest appearance by Australian singer Kamahl.
2017
The festival runs from January 11 to January 15. This is the 25th festival. The theme was Viva Las Vegas. The Elvis tribute artists for the four feature concerts held at the Parkes Leagues Club was Pete Storm and Jake Rowley.
Sponsors
The 2009 and 2010 and 2011 Parkes Elvis Festival sponsors included "CountryLink", the NSW regional and rural rail service, Parkes Shire Council itself, Country Energy and Clubs NSW Keno.