Hundreds of rock-and-rollers depart Sydney for annual Elvis festival in Parkes

ABC NEWS (Australia)

The Elvis Express is on its way to Parkes in New South Wales' central west, where a five-day festival dedicated to Elvis Presley is getting underway. It is expected to generate around four million dollars in tourism for the region.

Transcript

00:00Well, you might be wondering, how many Elvis tribute artists does it take to summon the

00:07spirit of the king of rock and roll?

00:09Well, parks in New South Wales, a small Central Australian town, might go the ways to answering

00:14it.

00:15There's more than 20,000 people expected to descend on the small country town.

00:20Many of them dress just like my dear friend here.

00:22Where have you come from today, Elvis?

00:24Scotland.

00:25Now, I believe Elvis' roots are actually in Scotland, but you've got a special connection

00:29here today, don't you?

00:30Oh, yeah.

00:31My cousin, he's performing.

00:33He's one of the performers, so, yeah.

00:35This is my cousin Kyle, so we've come as a family, so, yeah.

00:40And so, with that too, what's it like, then?

00:42You've all gotten into the spirit of him.

00:44He's performing, but you've both...

00:45Not me.

00:46I'm not performing.

00:47My brother's performing.

00:48I'm just tagging along as well.

00:49Yeah.

00:50He's a tribute act.

00:51Yeah.

00:52So, we're here for a bit of family moral support, you know, get dressed up for the occasion.

00:57Will you do any kind of dancing on the stage with him as well?

00:59Yeah, for sure.

01:00If we're invited, there'll be plenty of dancing.

01:02Oh, yes.

01:03For sure.

01:04I suppose the amazing thing about Elvis is that he had so many eras.

01:07You've got yourself here.

01:08This is kind of as early as...

01:09I think this is the 50s era.

01:10Yeah.

01:11I went a bit younger.

01:12Yeah.

01:13I prefer a bit more comfy.

01:14Yeah.

01:15I've went older, obviously.

01:16Yeah.

01:17Yeah.

01:18Dressed for the occasion.

01:19And, honestly, you're going to see so many people just like this, not just here on this

01:22carriage of the Viva Las Vegas Express, but right across parks over the next few days.

01:27And, of course, in America, it's still January 8th there, so it still is the King's birthday.

01:31And while he's not here in person, you almost feel like the spirit of Elvis is alive.

01:36We've even got a 90th birthday balloon to mark what would have actually been his 90th

01:41birthday.

01:42And so incredible that Parks, this little country town in New South Wales, actually

01:46now into its 32nd year, hosts the largest gathering of Elvis tribute artists, certainly

01:52of Elvis fans.

01:53You'll see hundreds on this carriage alone and many more departed from Central Station

01:57earlier this morning.

01:58It's the largest outside of the United States.

02:00In fact, it's the largest outside Gracelands in Memphis.

02:04So really quite an incredible amalgamation and coming together of people.

02:09And from such a far and wide place, it's no doubt that they're going to be having the

02:13time of their lives.

02:14They're all shook up.

02:15They've left Heartbreak Hotel, and now there's a little bit of burning love in the air.

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