All events on the Program this year have reported pleasing or record-breaking attendance, including the Elvis Art Exhibition which saw over 1,200 visitors through the door. The art show worked well with its location close to the Library for movie screenings, and with the addition of Elvis' Cadillac on display in the foyer from the King's Castle, there were plenty of crowd pleasers in air conditioned comfort in this vicinity.

"The Festival headquarters, Elvis Central was also busy all weekend, with record sales of Elvis wigs, accessories and other festival merchandise, all of which is channelled back in to the planning and organisation of future Festivals" said Festival Coordinator Ellie Ruffoni.

"The information component of Elvis Central was separated this year and located adjacent to Country Energy in the main street, which worked very well".

"Sponsorships have played an integral role in making it possible to grow this year's event larger and to present it with increased professionalism," said Ms. Ruffoni. The support of major sponsors CountryLink, ClubsNSW, Keno, Country Energy, Parkes Shire Council, Rex Airlines, MCA, Omni Instruments and TransTank are of particular note.

Businesses across Parkes have reported record trade over the weekend, with cafés, clubs and pubs packing out with visitors and locals alike. With local commercial accommodation booked out well-ahead of the festival, the Committee worked hard to promote camping, Home Hosting and Tent City, whilst also coordinating the shuttle services to Peak Hill and Forbes.

According to Parkes Shire Tourism Manager Kelly Hendry, "the Parkes Visitor Information Centre has already been inundated with phone calls for bookings for the 2011 Festival. With the festival expected to attract even bigger crowds next year, the challenge will continue to be finding accommodation and ensuring the sustainability of the Festival. Work is already underway on the development of a strategic plan to identify methods of ensuring the Festival continues to be as successful as it currently is in to the future."

"The Festival Committee is very thankful to the many local residents who hosted visitors in their home during the event and we look forward to continuing Home Hosting as well as exploring new accommodation options" said Mrs. Hendry.

"Another comment made by many visitors over the weekend is how amazing the local community was in pulling together to organise the event and how everyone they speak to is involved in some way".

From all reports, most attendees and locals were very well behaved throughout the festival, which is outstanding given the scale of the event.

"Whilst having been staged for 18 years, its been the last 8 years that the festival has really boomed and risen to its current level of success. This sudden growth continues to generate new challenges and issues for the committee and all involved. The event really is quite complex, as it involves many aspects including over 140 individual events, plus complicated logistics including transport, road closures, security and generating additional accommodation" said Mrs. Hendry.

"A volunteer committee of around twenty people work year-round to organise the overall event, and without them the festival would never get off the ground. There are also many ancillary organising committees, such as the group that organises the Gospel Church Service, the Miss Priscilla dinner Committee, the Golf and Bowling Clubs, Rotary and so many more. A really big thanks goes out to all of these people, as many hands and sub-committees make light work" said Festival Coordinator Ms Ruffoni.

A major thank you must also be extended to the many volunteers who gave time throughout the festival to help with many tasks including marshalling at the street parade, merchandise sales in Elvis Central, program sales, ushering at concerts, staffing Kings Castle and just general set-up and pull-down type tasks. "The committee has again been overwhelmed at how many great people came forward and worked for many hours to make the festival happen, so thanks again to everyone" said Ms. Ruffoni.

The media spotlight shone again on Parkes, with the festival generating news stories on the national platform over the past week and a half - in all media forms including newspaper, radio, television, magazines and the web. "So many other towns and festival organisers want to know what Parkes' secret is, and how to make their event as successful as Elvis has become for us. There is no straightforward answer. We knew that the Elvis Festival had the potential to attract more people, given the interest in this icon. Not every event can grow to be as successful as Elvis, you've got to have something unique and quirky to start with. Once you've got that, you've got to have a strong, passionate and motivated committee to make it work, and ideas and vision on how to grow. Once you've got this, you've got to sell your vision to sponsors, as sponsorship support really enables events to reach their goals. Of course the support of Parkes Shire Council has also really helped" said Mrs. Hendry.

"The committee generates the interest in the Festival and pulls it all together, but still relies on individual businesses to get involved, and be supportive - particularly those that benefit from it the most, as there are so many expenses involved in making it all happen - particularly the outdoor events which are free, but require significant infrastructure and resources as the event grows" said Ms Ruffoni.

Planning for the next festival will get straight underway, "an event committee's work is never done. Straight away you must wrap everything up, pay all the bills and thank everyone. Once this is done, things need to start being booked and organised for next year" said Ms Ruffoni.

Elvis Revival Inc., the coordinating body always need new and motivated committee members. The event just continues to grow, which also means that the number of people organising the different components needs to grow. The committee is getting to a point where it needs new people involved to start learning from those that have been doing it for a few years, as they really need to prevent burn-out of current members. If you are interested in going along and finding out what the committee is all about and what jobs need doing, contact Ellie Ruffoni on 6861 2333.

The next CountryLink Parkes Elvis Festival will be held from 5-9 January 2011, so mark your calendars now.