If you’re looking for something different to do this summer, then keep in the mind the somewhat silly Parkes Elvis Festival. The Parkes Elvis festival is held in the 2nd week of January every year in the central New South Wales town of Parkes. The date is set to coincide
If you’re looking for something different to do this summer, then keep in the mind the somewhat silly Parkes Elvis Festival.
The Parkes Elvis festival is held in the 2nd week of January every year in the central New South Wales town of Parkes.
The date is set to coincide with “The King’s” birthday and has been doing its silliness for 21 years! The event takes place over 5 days which is the Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday of the week. In 2014 this will be the dates 8th to 12th of January. There are over 150 different events held throughout the town, making it the biggest and craziest Elvis festival in Australia.
Why on earth is there an Elvis festival in Parkes, NSW? Well really, when there is this much craziness to be had, who really cares. But the real answer is that 20-or-so years ago there were some Elvis fans in Parkes that between them had changed their name by Deed Poll to Elvis and were running the Gracelands Restaurant that thought it would be a good idea to start it up. From humble beginnings it is now the biggest event on the Parkes calendar. The Festival program features Elvis Concerts in club venues, an Elvis Gospel Church Service, a Street Parade, free Elvis in the Park entertainment and various other fun events such as the ‘Back to the Altar with Elvis – Renewal of Wedding Vows’, and the ‘TransTank Miss Priscilla Dinner & Big Hair Competition’. Add to that a huge amount of general impromptu performances by 1000 different Elvis’s walking the street and you are sure to get more than just one show free show – of various qualities :)
That being said, you can understand that a small-ish town like Parkes might just get a little packed out at this time of year. So if you want to go, why not hire yourself a campervan and take your accommodation with you? I write about this now, 6 months in advance, for 2 reasons. 1. So you can make plans for this busy time of the year and 2. so you can hire the campervan you want. Summer (Dec-Jan-Mar) is the busiest time of the year for campervan hire. If you are not looking at booking AT LEAST 3 months in advance, then you are likely to miss out on the campervan you really want, let alone any good prices that might be available.
So this is a “heads up”. The Parkes Elvis Festival can be the craziest and silliest festival of your summer, allows you to get out the major cities for a while and if you go in a hired campervan you can also slot in some other exciting areas of New South Wales or continue on to some other part of the country.
Where is Parkes? It’s about a 4 1/2 hour drive west of Sydney, NSW and is the gateway to the NSW outback.
