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.
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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.