subject: The History Of Countrylink Parkes Elvis Holiday [print this page] The first CountryLink Parkes holiday was held on January 1993 in the city of Parkes, Central New South Wales. It is located 365 Kilometers west of Sydney, Australia. Lots of the eleven thousand towns folks are passionate about Elvis Presley but one man in particular is very passionate about Elvis.
He was fascinated with the King when he was only 5 years old, after watching'Love Me Tender' staring Elvis, that was in 1959. He started his Elvis memorabilia collection at this age. But when he turned sixteen, he became even more passionate about Elvis. In 1997, Neville and his better half Debbie made the trip to 'Graceland' the famous home of Elvis in Tennessee, USA, they returned home with 6 suitcases of souvenirs and Neville 'deed polled' his legal name to 'Elvis' with his mother's authorization.
Neville and Debbie have a room in their place about the dimensions of a garage that is set up with nothing but Elvis mementos. Each year during the CountryLink Parkes festival, the room is open to the general public to view all the entrancing items he has picked up.
The month of January was picked for this festival as it would coincide with Elvis' birthday of Jan 8th, and because it was actually the slow tourism time for the city.
the first year the holiday was given, it only lasted one night and over a few hundred folks attended. In the 10 years that followed, 1 or 2 more events had been added and a few hundred folks attended every year.
In 2004 and 2005, some new board members stepped in and had new visions and ideas. Now it has grown to eight thousand folks in 2008 that took part in the holiday and more than eight thousand attended in 2009. The holiday has grown in many ways, now the festival starts on Wed. and last through Sun.. The Festival has more than 120 individual events during those five days.
The event starts in Sydney on the CountryLink Elvis Express train that takes folks to Parkes. They're serenaded by Elvis the whole train trip. The majority of the major events are booked Thu. through sunday, like the 'Elvis Concert' and the'Elvis Gospel Church Service' and plenty more.
To keep your memory of the CountryLink Parkes Elvis festival alive all year, there's a special calendar you may purchase from www.festivalcalendar.com.au.
by: James Martin.
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