Always on our minds
Elvis Fantasy Fest to celebrate 29th year of saluting the King, helping Special Olympics
After going virtual last year, Elvis Fantasy Fest returns in person this year in Portage.
The 29th Elvis Fantasy Fest is a weekend to celebrate the music and memory of Elvis Presley and to raise money for Porter County Special Olympics. Held at the Woodland Park Community Center, hours are 6 p.m.-midnight Oct. 8, 9 a.m.-midnight Oct. 9 and 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Oct. 10.
“We’re now a preliminary contest for Elvis Presley Enterprises annual ultimate tribute artists contest that they have,” said Kay Lipps, talent director of the festival. “The winner of our contest will go to Memphis to represent the Portage Elvis Fest next August.”
Performer Riley Jenkins was the 2019 winner and finished in the Top 10 in Memphis, she said.
“We were real proud of him and he’ll be back,” she said. “We have the contest during the day and eliminate down to the top 10 on Sunday and then go to the top five.”
Also on Sunday’s slate is a finale with the Special Olympic athletes. They will march in and the headliners sing them in, she said.
Other performers during the fest include Ted Torres, Quentin Flagg and the 2019 Ultimate Tribute Artist Champion Taylor Rodriguez. Rodriguez will headline Saturday night with a recreation of the 1973 Memphis concert with songs recorded at Elvis’ final studio sessions.
The performance is timely, as RCA/ Legacy Recordings plans to release “Elvis: Back in Nashville,” a four-disc CD box set commemorating the 50th anniversary of Elvis Presley’s final Nashville studio sessions, Nov. 12.
“Quentin is a local entertainer who used to do Elvis and he’s branched out and does general entertaining,” she said. “A lot of people have to travel to get there and get there late, so Friday night is more of a local thing. Quentin is always great because people know him and love his entertaining. He’ll do a little something with the headliners. The show will be diversified. There will be more than just Elvis.”
Saturday’s show will also feature Riley Jenkins, who hails from Tennessee, she said.
“He’s going to re-create the 1957 show Elvis did in Chicago at the International Amphitheater,” she said.
There will also be an auction. “Graceland gives us some certificates for a trip to Graceland and you can stay at the hotel and go through the mansion and museums,” she said. “We’ve also got a really neat leather jacket that we’re auctioning. We also have a new author that just wrote a book last year called ‘Elvis: Destined to Die Young.’ Her name is Sally Hoedel and she’s going to be a special guest.”
Another special guest will be Jon
Daly from Memphis, who owns the EP Blvd. Pawn Shop down the street from Graceland, she said. He sells Elvisowned items and memorabilia and will answer questions people may have.
“He’s very interesting,” she said. “So we have a little bit of everything but mostly it’s about Elvis and helping the Special Olympics.”
There are 17 contestants entered, she said. They will be judged by their singing and presentation. This happens during the daytime Saturday. Saturday evening is the headliner show, she said.
“Sunday, we have a gospel hour,” she said.
After that, the top 10 contestants from Saturday will perform. Those scores will be tallied and then the top five perform. The athletes parade and then the winner is announced.
The festival has grown over the last almost-three decades, she said, as tribute artists have become more popular.
For starters, it has outgrown the hotel lounge it started out in. Sadly, many of the people who associated directly with Presley — fellow musicians or co-stars — have passed away.
“I always knew his music would go on forever,” she said. “I just wanted to make sure people knew about his humanitarian ways and his generous heart. If he saw a need, he made sure it got taken care of. Sometimes it’s not well known that he did things like that. Besides being a fabulous entertainer, he was also a humanitarian and I think he would love helping the athletes.”
A food truck will be on-site’‘ and athlete volunteers will sell concessions. A live band will be there.
“A lot of these festivals go on all over the country. That’s how Elvis Presley Enterprises fills their contest in August, from these preliminary contests,” she said, “There’s one in Australia and there’s one in England. We’re one of many. It’s a really big deal.”
All different eras of Elvis Presley are represented, she said.
“A lot of young up-and-coming artists are doing the ’50s,” she said. “Some people do sets where they just do movie songs. Of course, the jump-suited ’70s Elvis is very popular. You can’t beat the black hair, sideburns and jumpsuit. Elvis changed so much besides music. He changed the way people dressed and the way people danced. He was an innovator in so many ways.”