Parkes Elvis Festival Grooves its Way into 31st Year

Always a popular event with tourists and impersonators alike, the 2024 Parkes Elvis Festival last week saw the population of the town more than double, with around 25,000 visitors from all over Australia arriving to rock ‘n’ roll the extra-long weekend away.

Parkes Leagues Club General Manager David Brennan said the Parkes Elvis Festival is a fantastic annual event, and this year was no exception.

“We signed in just under 6000 visitors through the Club doors for the week — the place was chock-a-block from start to finish every day,” David said. 

“A highlight for us was having the performer Damian Mullen here each night, who is a really big drawcard for a lot of the visitors. We also had Greg Page perform some Wiggles songs, as well as some Elvis.”

David said the festival saw a big boom for local businesses.

“Certainly bar sales were up! To put it in perspective, in that one week we do roughly two months’ worth of our regular bar revenue,” said David. 

And despite the world losing the beloved performer nearly 50 years ago, the dulcet tones of Elvis clearly still resonate with those young and old.

“This year it felt like there was a younger crowd coming up,” David said.

“There was even a 15-year-old bloke who actually sang on the main stage… and he was as good as any of the international artists really, potentially that shows the festival will continue to live on."

Parkes Bowling and Sports Club Secretary Manager Paul Henry said the atmosphere in the town was electric.

“We had shows on from rock and roll legends the whole time, and people would come and go throughout the day, some just having a meal and others just having a drink. 

“It was great to see people travel from all over Australia to come to our town, it’s always such a great festival. 

“Looking at our figures… we probably received about an 18 per cent increase in revenue on the previous year.”

Parkes Services Club General Manager Mike Phillips agreed the festival was a huge hit this year.

“This year our theme was Jailhouse Rock and we had all our staff dress up which received a heap of positive feedback. We put on about $20,000 worth of free shows downstairs and had larger shows available as well,” Mike said. 

“The Elvis Express train came in on Thursday afternoon from Sydney Central Station and Rex flights in on Wednesday afternoon. 

“We held Elvis Bingo on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday which saw record numbers at our venue.

“A highlight was the Saturday morning street parade which had visitors travel from all over Australia to attend.” 

Over at Parkes Golf Club, President David Stevenson and his team had the Blues Brothers Show performing, and the crowd couldn’t get enough.

"All three main shows for each night were sold out. We had the Blues Brothers Show out here for the second year and they were really well received again, they were great."

While David said the cost-of-living crisis was mentioned by some revellers, with a few commenting on the increasing prices of schooners and meals right across the country, it doesn’t seem to have interrupted the festivities in Parkes. 

It’s estimated that the multi-award-winning event brings around $15 million to the Central West region each year, with all accommodation fully booked in Parkes and flow-on bookings in surrounding towns.